Magic Thief
by Tsubasa Kya
Summary: An Inuyasha Tortall Crossover Revived . Kagome is chosen to represent the Copper Isles in a University Mage Apprentice exchange program. Little do the Tortallans know, they're getting a bit more than they bargained for. SessKag. Inuyasha xover.
1. Thief in the Castle!

**Title: Magic Thief  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: no_

Chapter One:  
THIEF IN THE CASTLE?!

"Uwah!" Kagome beamed up at the city castle. She hugged her muddy satchel to her form as she was escorted by a rather scruffy looking man who looked far less than pleased. "Is this Corus?!" she demanded, her bare feet patting the pavement and the many bracelets on her ankles made of various kinds of metal jingling like a rather clumsy parade announcement.

"Yes," he grumbled. "Now, I brought you here! Where's my payment, girl, and I'm warning you… try messin' with me, and," Kagome turned hastily to face him, the jewelry jingling. The smile on her face spelled trouble, but it wasn't that which startled him and caused him to pause.

No, he'd forgotten why he hadn't just sold this girl to the slave drivers already. She was a hedge witch, or something entirely too close to that. Kagome ran a hand through her slightly ruffed raven hair, pulling fall leaves out of it as she did so.

A glance at herself told her she was worse for wear. She'd been given Tortallan clothes, something a common flower girl would wear, but they were littered with rips and tears. The skirt and petticoat had a giant rip that revealed one knee. The tunic and undershirt weren't much better being that her midriff showed openly to reveal her toned, flat stomach. One of the long sleeves of the white cotton undershirt had been ripped off, courtesy of a rather mean set of brambles, and scratches and scuffmarks marred her dark tan flesh wherever possible. Dirt and leaves were stuck in her hair from a long journey, matting it like a rats' nest.

She held the wool bag of her few belongings over her shoulder with one hand, bracelets just like those on her ankles jingling in multi-color and thickness there as well. A hand went to her hip as she pinned those deep blue eyes on her escort. "Hm," she said slowly, "I could have sworn I heard a threat in that!"

He gulped, instantly remembering her reaction to her when he'd first stumbled on her down by the southern coast. He'd had every intent to grab her and sell her to pirating slavers, but she'd shown him she was no one to mess with. After waking her rather boldly, sure the young chit would be no problem at all, she'd semi-consciously blasted him with what felt like fire and knocking him out for two days straight.

Instead of dealing with her again, he took off, deciding that to live another day would be better than being turned into a pile of goo by a hedge witch. With him gone, Kagome turned back to look up at the big castle gate. It was so early in the morning, there were few people around the city of Corus.

Her quick eyes picked up a straggling thief or two who was late at getting back from nightly raids, but that sort of activity was common no matter what country a person was from. Kagome grinned. The main gate to the castle wasn't open yet, and while she could get in any way she wanted, she figured the main gate was her best option.

Excitement burbled through her veins at the thought of where she was. She'd heard so much about this city and this castle. Apparently there was a university for magic somewhere in the large capital too. The university was her destination. She had all she needed for the entrance fee; her father was a pretty influential kind of guy, and that of course being before the mention that Thom Cooper, Headman of the newly built University in the Copper Isles, chose her to represent the Copper Isles as a foreign mage student.

With a bounce in her step and a smile upturning her lips, she grinned and started walking through the gates, intent on finding the Headman of the Corus University of Magic first thing. Headman Cooper had told her Harailt of Aili had passed away just recently, and so the high mage Numair Salmalin was temporarily filling in until someone new could be found.

Before she could get very far into the courtyard, she was grabbed by some soldiers who thought her up to no good. "Street rat!" one said and they turned her around and shoved her out toward the city again. "The likes of you don't belong in the castle!"

Her jaw dropped as she turned, her many bracelets jingling with every single move she made, and she stared at them in disbelief. Due to the rather rough handling, her wool bag of belongings had spilled out, revealing a small wooden lock-box, a small sack with a draw string pulled tight, a bent up dagger, a small flask, and some hard bread and jerky.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Kagome yelled at them stamping her foot hard on the ground. "You can't treat me like that, you over-grown lout!" She saw them bristling in irritation, but she was more annoyed than them. Headman Cooper told her a proper escort would be waiting for her when she arrived in Pearlmouth harbor. But of course some idiot Scanran pirates too far from home had decided their small vessel was a perfect target.

After that attack (a ship full of mages escorting a young apprentice mage obviously won) the ship ended up sinking and Kagome had no idea if anyone but herself had survived, since they all washed in different directions. She never made it to Pearlmouth harbor, but then again, she was actually supposed to be just getting to Corus _now_, even if she did get to Pearlmouth…

Once she'd washed up on shore, she'd been rather rudely awakened by a scruffy faced bandit. She ordered the bandit to take her to Corus and he agreed only because she'd given him a rather painful shock upon awakening… She was not a morning person, and it was not her fault he woke her up. She would do that to her own _father_ if he was stupid enough to try waking her in the morning.

"Now, see here, filthy wretch!" said a second guard, and Kagome couldn't help but wonder if all Tortallans were as rude. "The castle is not a playground. Go find the woman that whelped you and tell her to keep a better eye on her brat!"

Kagome picked up her things, shoving them in the wool bag before bursting past the guards, ducking low so their grabbing arms wouldn't catch her. They hollered after her, telling her to stop, but she _belonged_ here, and here she was staying. Before she knew what was going on, she had ten full grown guards chasing after her.

She ran past a curious group of boys who were holding staffs in their hands, and a shout from the guards chasing her was all it took before the boys were also running after her. "Hey! Lord William! A thief is in the castle!"

She managed to make it inside a kitchen area and unfortunately didn't see the cook standing just within the doorway. She shrieked and tried stopping, but her momentum kept her going at a steady rate in a crash course for a plump man. "Uwah!" she cried.

The cooks, not having anticipated the sudden appearance of the ragged scrap of humanity that Kagome currently was, were sent in a flurry as the man tumbled into a large pot filled with several gallons of red sauce. The pot tilted and sent the red sauce flowing like a river across the floor. A second cook, who had been carrying a large dish of mixed spices, slipped on the sauce.

"Aiyee!" the woman screamed noisily as the powders that were various spices flew up into the air and while the wooden bowl clattered to the floor, the spices went over everything.

Of course, the pages and guards _would_ come in at that moment, slipping and sliding on spilled sauce, and over half of them (and the cooks in the room who ended up being taken down with them) were drenched in the mess.

Kagome crawled out from beneath two dazed pages and shot toward the door, trailing sauce-related footprints.

It resulted in Kagome being even dirtier, and not only did she have guards and (she assumed) pages chasing after her, but a handful of kitchen cooks drenched in sauce as well, only instead of brandishing staffs or swords, the cooks had cleavers or some other form of kitchen utensil. Now, fearing for her very life—she knew common cooks to be more dangerous than a guard or page—she kept running despite the stitch forming in her side.

After several moments of running, the her feet seemed clean enough not to leave a foot print, although this actually only worked in her favor _after_ knocking down a servant, accidentally walking across them as she hastened to escape. They didn't appear too happy at that, from the shouting that followed her escape.

"You stupid wench! I'll show you your place!" he yelled as he joined the throng chasing her.

"I'm sorry!" she yelled back, but she wouldn't stop. She couldn't, even if she wanted to. Angry cooks with cleavers, pages who sought to be the one to 'catch the thief', and guards with very sharp looking swords chased her, yelling loudly and generally causing a raucous.

She managed to slip into a niche behind a statue just after turning a corner and all those people chasing her barreled by. Across the hall was a door, so she quickly went to it and sighed in relief that it was unlocked. A young page had held back from the others, and he shouted, "She's back here!"

Kagome sent a wide-eyed look of disbelief in the page's direction—this seemed to amuse him greatly—before throwing the door open and dashing inside. She was very lucky it wasn't a dead-end. It was a laundry room, filled with giant wooden vats doused in soap. The floors were wet and soap bars were plentiful. On the other side of the steamy room was a door. The guards, cooks, and pages were crowding into the room as she raced toward that door. She slipped on a bar of soap on the floor and went tumbling into a basket of clean, yet wet laundry that three maids had been working on for the past hour, and the red sauce that drenched Kagome ended up on the clean white sheets.

"Haha," she said nervously as the three young maids bore down on her, and the cooks, guards, and pages carefully maneuvered the room so they didn't slip on soap. "I'm sorry," Kagome told the maids, who clearly would have none of it. She grabbed her bag and took off running again, now with three murderous maids following.

"You stupid witch!" the maids snapped, holding laundry oars in their hands and looking incredibly menacing. 'Oh goodness,' Kagome thought, panic swelling in her breast at the thought of the mess she was in. Still, guards, cooks, pages, and that one servant were all sliding toward her.

"It's not my fault!" she called back to the maids and cooks. She figured there had to be forty people following her now. She needed to hide. She raced through a room filled with drying laundry, and any piece of laundry that she, or her saucy followers, touched became soiled. More maids were added to those following her.

"This is just not my day," Kagome groaned. She just needed to find Numair Salmalin. If she could do that, surely this could be cleared up as just a misunderstanding… She managed to find a stairway going up, and took it with the hope that she wouldn't run into more trouble. Her father would be laughing his rear right off if he knew of her trouble; it didn't help that she knew he had 'ways' of finding such things out.

She managed to worm her way into a tiny niche and her chasers barreled past again. Fully intent on staying hidden there until she was _sure_ they were gone this time, she found a secret door behind her and slipped inside. The secret passageway was too small to stand up in, so she had to crawl, dragging her bag of belongings behind her. The passageway was dark, and she shouldn't have been able to see anything, but adjusting her eyes to darkness was no new trick.

After all, she thought with a grin, she worked better at night anyway. Darkness was her friend.

She came to a fork in the passage and only a moment of indecision was regarded before she went right. "The right way is always right!" she muttered softly, although her father always chastised her for such thinking, saying it was a fool's logic. She knew better: it was an optimist's logic, not a fool's!

Again after crawling around in the dusty, spider-web filled hole for what felt hours, she found another fork in the passage. She took the right passage once more, and the passage began to incline slowly. She ran into a door, and pulled it open, peering down to try finding out where she was. She brushed her hands over her eyes, adjusting them to bright light. Really, if those followers knew she was a mage, they'd probably not act like they did.

She looked out of the hole she was in. She was about thirty feet up, looking down on a library. She figured in the passage she must have doubled around and above this library. A few people were milling about the library. Most were wearing common gray robes, like the color of apprentice mages. A couple of them were wearing journeyman robes in varying colors. None were wearing the white of mastery.

Figuring it to be safe by now, she crawled forward and pushed herself out of the hole. Kagome would surely be able to ask one of these mages where to find the high mage Numair Salmalin, and all her troubles would be solved! She landed with a thud on a bookshelf top three feet down from the hole, and sat up to close the door. None of the mages noticed her, even though she'd made a fairly loud noise.

Kagome began climbing down the very tall twenty-five foot shelf, but unfortunately it wasn't bolted to the wall. She could _feel_ the thin shelf falling away from the wall, and with a rather ungodly noise, the shelves were tilting one into another, like wooden blocks for a child's amusement.

"Ow, ow, ow," she muttered as she pulled herself and her wool bag out from beneath the triangle the shelf made. Book-shaped bruises littered her dirty flesh now. But that, she realized _very_ quickly, was not her immediate problem. Seriously ticked off mages were now staring down at her. "Eh hehe," she laughed nervously as she stood, wringing the neck of the bag in her hands. "I'm… sorry…" she told them.

They didn't look like they were about to forgive her, if the glowing of their hands were any indication. She could see the various colors ready to harm her. She ducked as the spells were flung at her, and they soared over her head, crashing into a shelf and causing an effect much like a catapulted rock…

She took off, spells following her. "Not good, not good!" she yelled. They followed her. So much for her plan of asking a mage where Numair Salmalin was…

Six hallways and two staircases later, Kagome ran into her _first _group of searchers. Trapped between fifty maids, pages, guards, and cooks, and at least fifteen mages of varying power levels, she dashed to the first door she saw and blasted it off its hinges. As many of her followers that could, crowded into the room. She was trapped by the open window, but a glance out told her she was three stories up.

The guards from the gate were first in the room. She had nowhere else to run to… but she would _not_ be turned away. She climbed onto the ledge of the window. "Now, girl, we're three stories up. You don't want to do that. Just leave the castle nicely, that's all. No need for this…"

Kagome glared at the guard, holding her bag of belongings tight in one hand. She stuck her tongue out at him. "If I were you," she told him, "I'd have your eyes checked. All this is your fault to begin with, and I'm gonna make sure people know you turned me away!" She let herself fall back out the window, and he dashed for her.

She caught the window ledge beneath the one she fell out just barely with her free hand and struggled to climb in. "She's climbing into the room below here!" the guard shouted, having stuck his head out the window. This would be so much easier, she thought, if she didn't have slippery hands, and if she didn't have her things to carry around.

She slumped on the floor for a moment, holding her stomach, before looking around for an escape. She nearly screamed as she realized this was definitely _not_ the right room to have fallen into. A snoozing dragon, as tall as her waist at the shoulders, was not even ten feet away from her.

She saw a door, hoping it led out, and went to leave, only to be crudely stopped by a footstool so conveniently placed to trip her. Her many bracelets and anklets jangled and she yelped noisily. Her things went sprawling out of her bag and clattered on the floor. The dragon's head came up curiously and she decided, better alive than fried. She left her things and left the room through an extra-large door, very unhappy to find a dragon following her.

Kagome managed to find her way to a deserted hall, being chased the entire time by mages, maids, cooks, pages, guards, and a dragon. The pages seemed to fall back when seeing where she was headed, but everyone else continued on. Her only reprieve was that the dragon seemed to think chasing her was a game and it wasn't chucking flaming fireballs at her. She sent a blast of magic at the doors and they shot open, their hinges cracking. Inside this room was pretty close to nothing. There were a few benches, a strange room within the room with an iron gate door, a gold sun disk with a lamp in front of it.

Knowing she would be caught anyway, she dashed for the iron gate's darkened interior. If they followed her in, she could sneak out as they were washed in darkness. Everyone called to her, telling her _not to enter_ the Chamber. She threw the door open and went in anyway.

-

Toga grinned at the mortal King Jonathan. "You're late." He told the mortal, and Jonathan sighed heavily. In the room were a few others; Daine the Wildmage, Numair Salmalin, the Queen Thayet, Alanna the Lioness, and Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak. The meeting wasn't an official one, but there in the corner was a scribe who quivered in fear of Toga.

Jonathan didn't blame the young scribe a single bit for his fear. Toga was an imposing presence that Jonathan didn't even compare to in his prime. He had long silver hair held up in a high-tie, but that thick hair still reached down behind his knees. His clothes were like what the Yamani wore, and over it was armor made of some sort of bone. He wore a white fur cloak and had three swords, two at his waist and one strapped to his back. He was dangerously tall, and sharp claws glinted on each finger rather than normal dull nails. Each time he grinned, he revealed sharp fangs and his eyes were piercing and an unnatural sun-gold.

Not many could be in the man's presence for very long. They were too afraid. It was the reason why Jonathan couldn't have a real official meeting with Toga. His council was too afraid to convene. The conservatives, those who were still alive, stayed brooding in their lands throughout the realm. Gareth of Naxen, cousin to Jonathan, took a spot beside Alanna.

"Where are George and Myles?" Jonathan asked, his question directed at Alanna. If anyone knew, he figured her, being wife and daughter, would know.

She glared at him. "Pearlmouth. Aly and Thom asked George to be part of the escort bringing that new mage in. Aly would not trust anyone but George and his people, though do not ask me why. Myles went with." Alanna was not pleased.

Jonathan frowned at his purple-eyed friend. She was probably the only person in the world who would tell him exactly how she felt, but Toga's presence made her bite her tongue. That meant that when it _did_ come out, it would be ten times worse. He'd have to make sure to catch her alone sometime later on, so he wasn't embarrassed publicly.

Toga cleared his throat. They were not there for pleasantries, and Toga had news in regards to the very issue they were talking about. "It has been verified that the ship escorting the mage was sunk by rogue Scanran pirates." Toga said.

"How do you know?" Numair asked. The ship should have pulled into port at Pearlmouth almost a month earlier, and no matter how many detours the escort made, or what direction they traveled, they should have made it to Corus already. And yet, George reported no ship had come carrying a young mage apprentice.

Toga's lips pressed slightly together. "Southern members of my clan have confirmed finding the mage escort, but not the young apprentice. The escort believes the apprentice may have drowned. We have shipped the mages back to the Copper Isles."

Jonathan felt like being childish and slapping his forehead multiple times but managed to stop himself. He was nearing fifty years old, and his once stark black hair was littered with liberal amounts of gray. Toga claimed to be several hundred years old, and yet he looked no older than twenty-five.

Raoul, of course being one who easily got along with Toga despite the fact that the latter was an immortal, said with a grin, "Next time, before you ship them back where they came from, we mortals like questioning people."

Toga placed his palms flat to his sides and bowed in what appeared to be an apology. "Ah, I shall keep that in mind."

They didn't get to say any more. A sharp knock on the door preceded the entrance of Lord William of Applegrove fief, a conservative and the training master for the pages and squires. "We have a… situation, my Lord," he said quietly though everyone heard.

"What is it?" Jonathan asked.

Lord William frowned deeply before saying, "Apparently early this morning a thief came into the castle. She caused quite a bit of damage before making her way to the Chamber… She did come out, and we have arrested her, but she is insisting to talk to Master Numair…"

Jonathan and those gathered all shared confused glances. He looked at his Queen, and she frowned thoughtfully. "Damage in what way?" It was common knowledge that thieves who came into the castle eventually ended up at the Chamber, but usually the Chamber opened on their corpse.

Lord William held out a handful of small wooden scraps for the gathering to examine. "She is a hedge witch, majesty. It is why we agreed to request Master Numair's presence. Two guards are unconscious, and three pages have been injured in her apprehension." Lord William glanced at Toga. "Lord Toga's son managed to subdue her, where the rest of us could not."

Numair stood up, and Daine moved to follow. He waved at her to remain seated. "Continue this discussion. Lord William, lead the way." He was admittedly curious. He saw Toga's proud smirk just before leaving.

-

"You won't get that open," Kagome told the guards who were attempting to pick the lock. "Only I can open it, and I'll be sure as hell damned if I open it for idiots like you." They had gone and gotten her things from the dragon's room and were currently trying to pick the lock on her lock box.

She was rather uncomfortable, being pinned against a wall by a very strong boy with silver hair, and the strangest eyes the color of honey. He did not match the clothes he wore, or perhaps the clothes didn't match him.

She guessed they were just the clothes worn by pages, but he looked a couple years too old to be a page. A red tunic with gold trim, and brown breeches. His hair was kept cropped to the tips of ears that were pointed and slightly angled. His skin was very pale, but his cheeks were slightly flushed.

Well, she hadn't gone easy on him. She was a bit more worse for wear herself, breathing heavily before he managed to pin her against the wall with her hands behind her back. She thought he might have been doing some sort of magic, because she couldn't access the ball of power inside her. If she wanted, she could have gotten away, but she was making an attempt at demure. Attempt being a major factor, since she just wanted to go rampant on the guards for causing so much trouble for her.

"Stupid, filthy street rat," the guard mumbled in a small voice she wasn't supposed to hear. He didn't know she had sensitive hearing, obviously. She stuck her tongue out at him, and the boy pushed her against the wall again.

"Enough, girl." He said in warning. "Master Numair has been called. Silence your lip!"

"You don't tell me what to do," Kagome told him, only to be shoved rougher into the stone. "I'm going to rejoice when you idiots are put in your place, as is just bound to happen. _This_ street rat doesn't like being manhandled!"

The guard she'd talked to that morning smirked at her. "Trouble with brats like you," he said, leering at Kagome as he unsheathed his sword, "is that you don't know your place." He raised his sword above his head, prepared to slice her wooden lock box in half.

"I wouldn't," she pointed out, but too late, the sword came down and shattered on the wooden box as if it were nothing more than a champagne glass breaking on stone. "I told you," she sang merrily, and he glanced at the hilt of his sword in astonishment. "As if my papa would give me something just any idiot could break!" she grinned.

"You may release her," said an older man who had just entered the room they were in. Kagome observed the man as the grip the boy had on her tightened for a second.

He hissed, "No funny business."

"Funny?" she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye before turning back to look at the newcomer. He'd come with that Lord William person, who seemed to be in charge of the pages. "I am always serious!" he snorted lightly and released her and she stood up straight, massaging sore wrists.

The newcomer looked exactly like the description Headman Cooper had given her, except with grayer hair. If this was indeed Numair Salmalin, she would finally have a break in her terrible day. The old man frowned at her. "And you are?"

She clapped her hands together, slapping a big grin on her face. "I'm Kagome! Kagome Higurashi!" she moved over to her lock box and banged a few times on the top of it. "Open up you stupid box!" she told it, and it popped open. She raised the lid, and reached in. A soggy piece of paper was what she pulled out. "Oh no… Headman Cooper's letter got wet. Papa, you dummy, you said this lock box was water proof!" she shook her hand at the sky… and the others really didn't know what to make of her.

"Did you say Headman Cooper?" the man asked her, a shocked look on his face. "Are _you_ the apprentice mage?"

Kagome groaned. "Well, here," she said, handing the wet, inky piece of parchment to Numair. "Yeah, I'm the apprentice mage." She turned a glare on the two guards. "And those guys chased me all over this place, landed me in a hot pot in the kitchens, drenched me in soapy laundry water, made me land in a library and knock over all the shelves, and got a dragon chasing after me, _then_ chased me into some chamber thingy that was filled with _bugs_!!"

"We told you not to go into the Chamber," the guard muttered. "Brat doesn't listen."

Kagome spun around to glare at the guard. Each step she took toward him, her jewelry made musical noise, almost like a dangerous cadence. "If you had not turned me away to begin with, none of it would have happened! But no, you believed me a _street rat_ just because I'm a little dirty!"

"A little dirty?" the boy snorted, "You look like something the cat drug in."

"And you!" Kagome rounded on the boy. "I recognize you as the boy who hung back and pointed out that I was hiding! Did you find my situation _humorous_?"

The guard pointed out logically, "You never once mentioned you were a noble apprentice mage."

Once more, Kagome's eyes found and pinned the guard with a glare. "I was _born _a street rat, and I'll _die_ a street rat, you dung barrel!"

Numair sighed deeply and rubbed his temples before turning to Lord William. "Lord William, please excuse Page Fushiro for the morning lessons." Lord William nodded and Numair turned back to the page and Kagome. "Page Fushiro, show Apprentice Higurashi to the baths and ask a servant to retrieve clothes for her. Apprentice Higurashi, when you have cleaned yourself up, Page Fushiro can show you to the mess hall and I will come find you after you have eaten."

Kagome slammed the lid of her lock box shut, jamming it, her bent up knife, and her entrance fee money back into her wool sack. The page looked stone-faced at her before turning around and walking away. She had to quickly thank Numair before leaving him to stare at the soaked and useless letter in his hand. What if something important had been in there?

-

After a long bath had soaked away not only dirt, grime, and dried sea weed but also the sauce, laundry soap, and cob webs, Kagome found a shiny comb in her lock box that she used to attempt to detangle her hair. It took several minutes to do, but beautiful hair took effort.

A maid who seemed incredibly prone to giggling entered the room and gave her a new set of clothes, gauging her new outfit by what her old outfit was. She was rewarded with a pink tunic and a short-sleeve white undershirt. Her skirt and petticoats were a similar pink to the tunic. The soft pink did contrast nicely with her dark tan skin, although a glance at herself told her the cutesy-pie pink did not match the many bruises and scrapes on her visible flesh.

She'd washed her bracelets and ankles free of dirt, so the copper, gold, silver, and bronze metal rings shone brightly and their jingling sound was far noisier with each step and move she made. She really enjoyed listening to the musical sounds with each step. Each ring was a different metal and a different thickness, so none of them had a duplicate sound.

When she was done combing her hair and had just loaded her stuff back into her wool sack, the maid stepped forward. "Mistress, let me take that for you. By the time you've eaten lunch, I shall have your room prepared in the Apprentice Mage wing."

Kagome blinked at the girl. She had upside-down eyes, Kagome noticed. They were almond shaped, but they were almond _vertically_, and her pupils were slits. This fact made her face look very long and thin. She wore a common maid uniform of a black skirt to her ankles and a white blouse, but she just… looked so weird.

Not to mention the itty-bitty fact that there was some sort of long…tail-like thing, wrapped around her waist. She bowed and, in a puff of smoke, vanished. Kagome sighed and looked at her empty, but scratched up hands. "This place is weirder by the minute," she muttered before looking back at her cleaned up reflection.

She didn't look terribly bad, but just as before, she felt almost stifled by the clothing. Her jewelry jangled as she raised a hand to brush her fingers through her hair. Her mirror image mimicked her. "Papa, was _this_ what you wanted?" she muttered to herself before deciding she didn't really want to know.

Whatever was in store for her, she would find out. She tapped her fist in her palm twice, decisively, before walking toward the exit to the baths. The boy from earlier, Page Fushiro, leaned casually against the opposing wall to the bathroom door, his eyes closed as though he were just milling about and not actually following orders. He'd crossed his arms over his chest, and she noticed he seemed to have claws instead of nails.

Sharp…claws…

"Thank you for waiting, Page Fushiro!" she chirped, completely ignoring his abnormal (and certainly not human) features. "Even if you did get me in trouble earlier!" Again, she said it with a smile, but this time her voice was laced with thoughts of payback.

He didn't look at her, but rather he pushed himself away from the wall. "Hn." He snorted. He began walking away from her and she hastened to follow, disbelief the only sure thing she felt at the moment. Surely such a strange creature as him would have a larger vocabulary than 'hn'!

And he proved it two seconds later. "I am merely following orders." Okay, so he apparently did not have that much larger of a vocabulary?


	2. Neiji the Crow, a Stalker!

**Title: Magic Thief  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: nadda_

Chapter two  
Neiji the Crow, a Stalker?!

The place that Page Fushiro had led Kagome to was a very large room filled with tables. By the time they got there, the noon bell had rung and pages were lining up to fill trays with food. Not only were there pages lined up, but apprentice mages were also lined up, wearing the gray robes of apprenticeship.

As Page Fushiro entered the line, people seemed to scoot away from him as far as would allow without leaving their place. She got more than just one curious glance probably due to the fact that she had a pink dress on and looked nothing like a mage or a page. If anything, Kagome thought her outfit was nothing more befitting a flower girl, and she had no shoes either.

That was disregarding the fact that Kagome didn't like shoes, of course. The noise she made with each step, her jewelry jingling, as she got closer to the food also seemed to attract attention. Mostly it garnered irritation in those close by.

Kagome ignored the pages and apprentices around her and took the food she was given before following Page Fushiro to a vacant table. "You do not have to follow me anymore," Page Fushiro stated as he set his tray in front of him.

Kagome sat across from him, taking in the vast hall. "Probably not," she admitted, looking as pages and apprentices separated after the food line and none of them sat with each other; pages sat with pages, and apprentices sat with apprentices. Mingling seemed out of the question. She turned back to Page Fushiro and admitted, "But you're the only one I know here."

He glanced at her through half-lidded eyes, his look one of exasperation. "Look," he started, "I do not like company. I have sat at this table alone for three years and do not want that to change. So go away."

She couldn't help but grin at him as she ate some of the food on her tray, mentally noting that it could use some spicing up. She was warned that Tortallan food was far blander than Kyprian food, but she hadn't realized the extent of it until just now. Mostly she'd eaten stolen bread and dried cooked meat, so taste wasn't what she was really looking for.

"I like company," Kagome told him, "and following orders is beyond my mental capabilities. Did you just tell me to do something?" He sighed heavily, as if a great burden was on his shoulders. "What's your name?" she asked, cheerful and friendly despite the fact that he as good as betrayed her earlier. Granted, he didn't know she was a good person at the time, but still…

"Why do you want to know my name?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because 'Page Fushiro' is just too long to say. Besides… you know mine. Why can't I know yours?"

"I know yours by default. I did not ask for it. Therefore, you need not know mine."

"That's awful logic." She pointed out. He simply shrugged and returned to the task of eating. She was determined not to give up though. "Does it start with an 'A' then?" He shook his head. "Does it have an 'A' in it?" Again he shook his head. "Does it start with, or have a 'B' in it?"

A tap on her shoulder prevented any more conversation and she looked behind her. "Apprentice Higurashi?" Kagome glanced at the young boy. He couldn't be more than six or seven, she thought. His eyes were wide, green, and framed by long lashes. Red hair sprouted from his head like a lion's mane, constantly falling into his eyes so he had to push it out of his face. He wore something similar to a Yamani haori and hakama, the hakama a dark blue with silver stripes on the hem and the haori a silver and blue checkered pattern. From his backside, a bushy red fox-like tail stuck out, and through the fact that he wore no shoes, Kagome could see he had—strangely enough—fox feet.

"That's me," she said, all the while wondering if anyone else was questioning what they saw. Were Tortallan people cross-species breeding? Headman Cooper never mentioned anything like this… Then again, Headman Cooper did mention that Tortall was hit the hardest with wave after wave of Immortals, so was it possible that this kid was one of them?

She watched as the boy bounced up onto the bench. "Good!" he said cheerfully, a bright and happy smile on his face. "Master Numair said to show you to him just as soon as you're done eating. So, you're the apprentice from the Copper Isles, aren't you, Apprentice Higurashi?" the boy asked.

"Uh huh," she nodded. "What's your name?" Page Fushiro seemed glad the boy was there to distract Kagome. Either that, or he was so annoyed he looked happy. She'd met a few mages at the university in the Copper Isles who were like that. They got so annoyed that they smiled.

"My name is Shippou! I'm helping Master Numair with errands until the Wild Mage can find my papa and mama." He puffed his chest out importantly, a child-like look of seriousness on his face. "Papa and mama are going to be so proud of me, 'cause I'm doing so good. Master Numair even pays me. He offered me five silver crowns one day when I did a whole lot of stuff for him!"

Kagome decided the young boy was much nicer than Page Fushiro. She smiled at him, encouraging him to continue talking. But she was still curious about the page she shared a table with. As the young boy chattered on about things he'd done for Numair Salmalin that day, Kagome finished up her food. Once done, the boy hopped off the bench but quickly turned to Page Fushiro.

"Oh!" the boy said as though remembering something. "Lord Toga said to tell you to stop ordering immortal servants to chase after people." Kagome stopped to look at Page Fushiro, unable to stop the look of disbelief from spreading on her features. Shippou continued on anyway, oblivious to the fact that his words lit a flame of rage toward Page Fushiro, and definitely didn't put the page on her good side.

"He said that if you continue exercising your station over the immortal servants employed by the mortal King, he's gonna box your ears. He also said that to make up for it, you're to use the next three Sundays helping cook, and three Sundays after that helping in the laundry. Lord Toga said you may be heir to his clan, but no son of his is going to use servants for his amusement."

Kagome grabbed her tray with more force than was necessary and the empty dishes on it rattled. "Bastard," she growled lowly. Now that it had been brought up, she realized it really was odd for servants to have been chasing her. She didn't get a very good look at the servants who had chased her—she'd been preoccupied with running away from them—but now that she recalled it, the three laundry maids whose basket she landed in had had pointed elfish ears.

Shippou grinned widely. "Oh, and Master Sesshoumaru," he said cheerfully, his voice laced with mischief, as the page's features twisted into annoyance and he glared at the young boy. "Lord Toga said to tell you that you're to report to Damio and Kyrim. They have full authority to do as they see fit, and Lord Toga's confidence that they'll beat some sense into you, before it's too late."

Kagome had to count to fifty before she was even remotely able to move away from the table without dumping the page's tray on his head. She went and put her empty tray by the kitchen window and let Shippou lead the way to see Numair Salmalin. Her ire was visible as she stormed away, the colorful and shiny jewelry tinkling.

It wasn't too much later that Kagome was entering a room with Shippou. Inside were several people, but Kagome only recognized Numair Salmalin. They sat around a large table, and in the corner of the room was a young scribe whose eyes constantly flickered from his paper to the door as though he would just love to run away. The room was devoid of decorations, and the shutters on the single window were open.

Kagome's eyes flicked from one person to another, taking in everything she possibly could. From the look of things, she stood in high company. Their clothes were made of expensive silks and velvets, in varying shades and colors. She did take notice that—other than small belt knives—the only one who wore any real weaponry was the man to her left and he had three swords. One was strapped to his back, and two were strapped to the left hip.

Shippou bounced across the room, disappearing under the table the people stood around. She noticed that the people appeared to be sizing her up, before the tall man with the swords who looked strangely like the page she was so annoyed with grinned. He was sitting, but she could tell that standing up he would have to be at least seven feet tall.

"My, my," he said, brushing a hand through his silver bangs. "She's as small as the Lioness."

Kagome blushed profusely. "Really?" she asked, considering it a compliment to be compared to the famous female warrior Alanna the Lioness. "I've heard she's not too tall, but she's real sharp as a mage! Headman Cooper said I might get to meet her," Kagome trailed off as warm chuckles went around the room and the tense atmosphere that she had felt on entrance seemed to fade away. "What?" she asked.

A woman with bright red hair and violet eyes pointed to herself. "I would hope Thom told you only good things about me." Kagome could have sworn her own jaw hit the floor. "I'd have to scold him if he said anything bad." Alanna's eyes were teasing, and they all chuckled again.

Kagome could barely contain her excitement as she realized just who she was talking to. Alanna the Lioness was the heroine of all the greatest tales. All Kyprian women adored her, despite never having met her. By nature, even Kyprian women were warriors, so to hear tales of a woman who dared to challenge law in a world of men was something to cling to.

She darted across the room and knelt before Alanna, taking a copper bracelet from one wrist, leaving only nine on that one and ten on the other. She offered the bracelet to the living legend, her face deep red with embarrassment. "Lady Alanna, it would be a great honor if I could give you a token of gratitude on behalf of all Kyprians. Your great deeds were fuel for the Kyprian women who had second thoughts of taking up arms and regaining the land that was lost to us!"

Alanna blinked down at the child and the bracelet being held out to her. This was certainly unexpected for her. She looked at Jonathan, but he seemed only amused by what was happening, as did the irritating Lord Toga. It seemed everyone in the room found the young apprentice's admiration to be hilarious.

Kagome continued, "These bracelets were a gift of our beloved god in the Divine Realm. I would be honored if I could give it to you." She turned her head up to look at Alanna and was surprised to see a bewildered look on the woman's aged features. Crows feet surrounded Alanna's lips and eyes, and now that she was closer, Kagome could see white hairs by Alanna's temples and streaking through her hair.

"I'm not so sure," Alanna started but Jonathan cut her off, plucking the bracelet from Kagome's fingers and pressing it into Alanna's hands with a warning glance toward Alanna. "Um, thanks," Alanna said, but swore that she would kick Jonathan once they were in private quarters—in other words, once Lord Toga wasn't around.

Kagome got up and cheered happily, her anger toward Sesshoumaru all but forgotten completely. "Uwah!" she jingled as she did a little happy dance. "I'll have to tell everyone all about this," she thought aloud, so happy she couldn't contain it. The Copper Isles had been lost to Kyprians, and Kyprioth's people had been thrown into slavery, for so long that some of them started losing faith in the prophecy despite the Chain's assurances that the Haiming line was secure and safe.

When tales of Alanna's quests reached the ears of slaves in the Copper Isles of a woman who thrust herself in the lives and world of men—and won—the passionate fire and people's faith in the prophecy returned. It was ultimately thanks to Alanna that they had faith in their victory.

Someone cleared their throat, and Kagome turned to see who, realizing suddenly that she had an audience. She tried to turn attention away from the fact that she probably seemed like a lunatic, "Um, Master Numair, I have money for you for the entrance fee at the university, but that servant girl took my stuff."

"Well, well," drawled a voice, startling all those present. Kagome nearly groaned, thinking just how complicated her day already was, but to add the owner of that voice, her life couldn't possibly get any worse. She whirled around to face the window where a crow sat perched on the sill. She supposed she was the only one who would understand the annoying black bird.

Hanging from the bird's beak was the bag that had held the entrance fee money. Black bird eyes glinting, the crow opened its mouth and dropped the bag on the floor. Coins spilled from the pouch. "Stupid bird!" Kagome grumped as she went to the bag and started picking up the lost coins.

"What's this?" asked a woman with brown curls pinned tight to her head. Her green velvet gown was covered in short white dog hairs. She stood from her chair even as the crow flew from the window to land on Kagome's clean, still damp head.

It wasn't much more than two seconds before Kagome started swiping at the crow. "Get off me, Neiji!" Kagome yelped as Neiji's talons scraped along her head and the crow laughed at her, flying away to the window again. Holding her newly scratched up head, Kagome forgot the others in the room and prepared to yell at Neiji. "You coward! You followed me all the way here from Rajmuat, didn't you? And why? So you can torture me with your stupid bird ways?"

"Actually Nawat asked me to come, and since you're fun to annoy, I get a bonus!" Kagome threw the coin sack at the bird and it dodged, cackling as it flew away and the coins went out the window.

"A pet?" Jonathan asked Kagome, and she turned to look guiltily at the others, embarrassed to have forgotten their presence (and lost her temper with a bird). "I wasn't aware that crows could be kept as pets."

"Um, not exactly," Kagome still didn't know who any of these people were. Introductions hadn't yet been made. "Neiji's not my pet. He's an annoying crow who has followed me since before I can remember. I have tried to lose him, but he finds me anyway." Desiring a change in subject from Neiji, she turned to the tall man with swords. "Are you Lord Toga? Page Fushiro's father?"

The man nodded with a playful grin on his face. "I am. What can I do for you?"

She opened her mouth to speak again, but Neiji had returned and settled on her shoulder. He held the string of the bag in his beak again and Kagome took it from the bird. "Now go _away_ stupid bird!" Kagome told him, only to have her ear bitten fast by Neiji's beak. "Ow, ow, ow!" she cried.

Several people present rushed to her aid, but the one who managed to help her best was the woman covered in dog hairs. She managed to dislodge Neiji and pushed the crow out the window. A few seconds later, Kagome was ordered to sit and Lady Alanna worked healing magic on Kagome's head. This time the window was closed and candles were lit.

The scratches from Neiji's talons weren't too bad, and Neiji's beak didn't really do damage even if the pressure had hurt. After that, and once a new calm had settled, introductions were finally made. With extreme embarrassment, Kagome learned she was talking to King Jonathan of Conte, ruler of Tortall, and his Queen, Thayet. Lord Toga of the Fushiro immortal clan. Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, captain of the King's Own guard. Daine, Wild Mage of Tortall. Duke Gareth of Naxen, a close advisor of the King. Lady Alanna the Lioness, King's Champion of Tortall. Numair Salmalin, a high mage in service to Tortall.

It was just so much at once. So many fine people, and there she was, just a scrap of a girl with a hot temper. It really wasn't her fault; she dealt with her father's tricks for the past eight years. Anyone would be temperamental if her father were _their_ father. It was just as Aly Cooper, spymaster to Queen Dovasary, had once said.

"In order to deal with your father, a person needs the right kind of temper." Kagome actually thought that Aly had been hinting at something else, but she gave up trying to figure out what.

So, the fifteen year old apprentice mage held the bag (slightly bloody) to Numair, and he shrugged and took it, peering inside it. After that, she was questioned on how she got to Corus. They had heard her ship had sunk, so she told them about the Scanran pirates and how their ship had been hit with blaze balm and sunk, and then told them how some bandit had woken her up and brought her to Corus.

She left out the fact that the bandit had been stupid enough to lead her into a trap set by several of his fellow rogues and how he had tried to kill her when she proved too feisty to sell to slavery, but figured they had gathered as much. Needless to say, the bandit's true cooperation came only when Kagome hit each of the bandits with a sleeping spell and at the same time wove an illusion that the bandits were all charred extra crispy.

In turn, Kagome asked about the rest of the mages who had been her escort. She was informed that some of them washed up on the coast and some were recovered by a passing naval ship under Lord Toga's command. They had all been escorted back to the Copper Isles.

"If you don't mind," Jonathan began then, grabbing Kagome's attention, "I just have one more question to ask." He smiled warmly at Kagome. "I ask the same question of all apprentice mages who come to study here from abroad." She felt her body tense, hoping it wasn't a hard question. "Why did you decide to come here?"

Instantly she relaxed. That was an easy question. She felt a smile tug at her lips. "My aunt and uncle wanted me to, but my papa didn't want me to leave. So, since my aunt and uncle know my papa so well, they decided to make a high stakes bet with papa. When papa lost, he was pretty mad, but I did what my aunt told me to do and put my name on the list for coming here. Almost twenty people signed up, but Headman Cooper chose me because I'm really good with languages and I'm not terrible at magic either."

Silence followed that, almost as if they'd never heard of family betting over their young before. It was a common thing in Kagome's family though. Her father was something of a swindler, in many ways. For the past eight years, he'd made hundreds of bets using Kagome as the incentive. It was almost funny to think about, considering how he hadn't known Kagome even existed for seven years before that. Her aunt and uncle had hidden her existence from her father for that long.

Well, Kagome had grown up knowing who her father was. She'd learned all about him from her peasant seamstress mother. She'd grown up admiring her father, and at the same time she was angry at him for never being there. It wasn't until after her mother died eight years previous during the assault to rid the Copper Isles of false kings that she did find out her aunt and uncle had done what they did.

Still, what was done was in the past and now she wasn't about to argue with her aunt and uncle. She might be able to get away with it with her father, but her aunt and uncle weren't ones she would mess with.

Numair cleared his throat finally. "Shippou, show Apprentice Higurashi to the apprentice wing, then. I'm sure after such a long journey," he added, looking at Kagome, "you must be tired. If there's anything you need, just talk to Shippou and he can get it for you." Numair handed Shippou the bag of crowns and Shippou puffed his chest up proudly.

"What would you like me to do with this, Master Numair?" the boy asked.

Numair said, "Count it. Thirty gold crowns are to be taken to Reeve, and twenty to Boris. Give Apprentice Higurashi the remainder."

Shippou nodded importantly before gripping Kagome's skirt and pulling her away. He talked excitedly all the way through the corridors. "Isn't Master Numair really neat? He used to be sort of an air-head, but ever since he's had to become Headmaster for the Corus University, he's not so forgetful. Oh, he's never forgetful of magic or his family, but other things."

Kagome didn't even get a chance to speak. She wondered if Shippou ever got to talk to anyone in his life or if he just liked talking. Since he was so adorable, she didn't think he was conversation deprived.

"Reeve's a stuffy old goat in accounting. He handles things like tuition for Tortall's universities. The City of the Gods can't keep all the mages, after all. So there's also Corus University and a newer university being built down in Pearlmouth, although that one isn't complete yet and King Jonathan doesn't expect it to be finished for several years. With more and more people being educated, it's not just noble sons and daughters who get to learn magic professionally."

Kagome smiled at Shippou's extensive knowledge. "If you say so…" she said.

He continued cheerfully, "Yup!" he was practically skipping with joy. "And Boris is the head servant in charge of the Apprentice wing. Miroku calls him a bull-headed twit, but only in private, 'cause Miroku likes to pretend he's a real noble. He said it gets him the ladies. Miroku's funny that way."

"Is this Miroku person also an Apprentice?" Kagome asked and received enthusiastic nods from Shippou.

"Yup!" he said. "Lord Raoul who you met back there is Miroku's guardian. They met in Port Caynn, and Lord Raoul decided to take Miroku in five years ago."

"You're just a bubble of information," Kagome told Shippou. They entered a corridor like all the rest, filled with doors.

"I try to know what's going on here, 'case Master Numair needs to know something. Oh, and just so you know, that mess hall you were eating in is the Pages' mess, but that's where you'll take your meals until further notice. Some of the apprentice mages woke up on a bad side of the bed a few weeks ago, so the mage's mess is currently…uh…blown up." Kagome's eyes went wide at that and she made a mental note to keep her own temper in check.

"Here you go," Shippou said as he stopped at a door with a chalk board name label. It read, "Kagome Higurashi," and right underneath that in fine print, "Copper Isles," was written. A glance at the doors surrounding her own showed, "Yamani Isles," to be written under a name, and, "Carthak," under another. She supposed she wasn't the only apprentice to study abroad.

"Is there anything I can get you, Apprentice Higurashi?" Shippou asked, looking up at her with cute, wide green eyes. She smiled, really liking Shippou's cheerful company. Now that she knew a chance to settle down was on hand, she felt lonely at the thought of being so far from home.

"Yes, actually." Kagome brushed her fingers on her tunic. "Would it be possible to get some inexpensive reams of cloth, and a small sewing kit? I had some on my way here, but when our ship sank, the trunk went with it."

"Sure. Are there special colors you would like?" he asked.

"Black. Purple. Green… um, just whatever colors, I guess. I just need cloth to work with, since this is currently my only outfit." She watched the young boy bow to her. "I also don't have my apprentice robes, so I'll," he cut her off.

"No problem! I'll handle it all before the dinner bell even has a chance to sound!" He took off, scampering down the hall in more a manner of a fox than a boy. Again it struck her as odd that he had fox legs. She wondered when he would notice he hadn't asked her measurements. He wouldn't be able to get the uniform without her measurements… When he had disappeared down the hall, she turned to go into her new room. It was an unpleasant surprise to find the door was locked.

Not deterred despite her disappointment, she placed her hand over the lock and was about to use magic gifted to her by her father to pick the lock when someone equal in cheer to Shippou's called out to her.

"Beautiful maiden, you seem distressed." Kagome glanced at the newcomer, wondering just when the day would end. It seemed she would meet all of Tortall before bedtime.

**end.**


	3. Where Did My Gift Go?

**Title: Magic Thief  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: none_

Chapter three  
Where Did My Gift Go?!

The newcomer was male, just a few inches taller than her. If she had to guess, she would say he was her age. He was wiry, and his gray apprentice robes hung on his form almost as if they were bought too big for him, or he shrunk in them. His blue-gray eyes seemed to have more cheer in them than was even plausible for a human being, but there he was, smiling.

She smiled back at him and waved cheerily, deeming friendliness to be one of the greatest tools a woman could have. "Distressed?" she asked the black-haired boy. "Me? Hardly. Hey, do you know where to get the keys to our rooms? That boy Shippou didn't give me a key." Well, it wouldn't do to use her father's magic in front of him…

A wide grin crossed the boy's face and he stepped forward, bowing to her as one would do a suitor to a maiden. "I can help you." He said as he stood back up. He looked up and down the hall to make sure no one was around. No one was. Then he looked back at her and winked. "As long as you don't tell anyone, of course."

She nodded. "My lips are sealed," she promised.

He reached out for the knob and lock, placing a hand to the knob and with a burst of dark purple swirling around his hands, he sent that magic into the lock. With a hasty 'click' the door lock turned and she was able to enter the room. She watched him grin almost foolishly as he pushed the door open for her. "It's like magic," he said happily.

"That was pretty neat," she told him. "You'll have to show me how you did that sometime!"

"Of course, beautiful maiden. I would be honored!" he took her hand and bent over it, kissing her knuckles. She almost burst into a grin, but attempted to keep her smile more 'maidenly'. Her father constantly reminded her that she was too much like a boy, always wanting to do things for herself. He then added, "My name is Miroku. Might I know your beautiful name?"

Her lips twitched as she nearly burst out laughing, but with a brief glance at her name-plate, she said, "Higurashi. Kagome Higurashi. I'm from the Copper Isles."

"It is a wonder to meet such diamond in this unsalvageable junk yard. I hope to," he never got to finish.

"Miroku!" snapped an older, gray haired man swathed in white robes of mastery. His eyes almost seemed to be on fire as he swept toward the two. Miroku's back instantly went ramrod straight and he blushed.

"My apologies," he said lowly, "let us meet again!" He turned and—presumably—made a face at the old man before taking off the way Shippou had gone.

The old man tottered after Miroku, yelling all the while. "Miroku, you scoundrel! I'll be having your head for my supper!" Kagome thought ironically that the old man would have to move a lot faster to catch up to the speed-walking boy. She wondered what he had done, but then asked herself if she really wanted to know.

Probably not.

She entered her new chambers, amused how Miroku didn't even question whether or not it really was her room. She surveyed her new room. It wasn't terribly large. In fact, it was rather small compared to her old room in Raj'muat. There was a small frame bed in the corner, a small desk and chair opposing that. The room had a small charcoal brazier in a final corner. Other than bedding on the mattress, the room was free of adornment, and even the bedding was a bare gray color.

The shutters to the window were closed. She supposed that was better anyway, so that a certain stupid bird didn't get inside. She closed the bedroom door and made her way to the desk, examining the sack of items sitting there. All of her few belongings were there.

As a yawn hit her, she decided it was a good time to rest. She curled up on the bed, falling asleep almost immediately. She really did have a long day. And she would have to pay that stupid page back for the damage he'd caused her so intentionally.

-

The next morning when Kagome woke up, she found the things Shippou had promised to get for her piled up beside the desk in wood crates. She found cloth in a variety of colors along with a sewing kit. The gray Apprentice robes were folded neatly on her chair and a quick evaluation showed Shippou had gotten her the perfect size. She wondered how he managed that.

On the desk was a box of sweets and a note. "Beautiful Maiden," it read, and she immediately hazarded a wild guess that it was the boy she met the day before. She smiled ironically. It wasn't even her third day in Corus and already she seemed to have an admirer. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. "I hope you will accept this small token as a welcome present from a neighboring Apprentice Mage. Should you ever desire company (or an alibi for a misdeed)," there was a smiling face drawn on the parchment, "my room is directly across the hall. Sincerely, Miroku of Goldenlake and Malories' Peak. P.S. you look really cute when you're asleep."

She blushed. She must have really been tired, because normally she wasn't a heavy sleeper. She opened the box and peeked at the sweets. Immediately she was hit with the scent of chocolate and caramel. The chocolate looked like tiny bowls filled with gooey caramel.

_If this were given to me in the heat of Raj'muat,_ she thought wryly, _it would be soup by now._ But it wasn't an unpleasant gift, and indeed, when she tried one of them she found it to be very tasty. The caramel was sweet and the chocolate was just a little bit bitter and together the taste of it seemed to become a delicacy. _I'm so spoiled._ She grinned.

She set the chocolates down and moved to check more of the wood crates Shippou left for her. He seemed to have taken it upon himself to get her more than just the cloth, sewing kit, and Apprentice robes. She found loincloths, a pair of sturdy boots and a pair of regular footwear, socks, breast bands (how did that little boy know what size breast band she wore?), and a variety of toiletries she would need.

Shippou was indeed very thorough, she supposed. She was grateful for it, but it had been unexpected. The remainder of her money was on the desk with a key to her room. She was indeed pleased as she pulled on one of the Apprentice robes. The gray color contrasted nicely with the pink of the outfit she'd been given the day before, and though her pink outfit _was_ wrinkled, she hadn't worn it very long and figured it could survive at least another day.

She pulled the robe over her head and only three inches of pink hem showed beneath the gray robe. The robes were much better quality than what they had in the Copper Isles. The sleeves billowed out leaving plenty of room for her many bracelets to jingle and tinkle, and buttons ran half-way down her chest. She didn't button it, so her pink outfit showed there as well in a 'v' shape. Connected to the robe was a drawstring hood, but she left that down.

From her lockbox she got her shiny comb and ran it through the snarls in her hair. She didn't bother with shoes—she didn't like them. They annoyed her greatly. She picked up her room key and stuck it in the pocket of her robe, then had no idea whatsoever about what the heck she should do next.

Eventually with much wandering around, she made it to the page's mess. That was around noon. She made it there just as everyone was filing in for their lunch and finding Miroku was easy: she just stood there and it seemed the boy migrated to her.

He took her hand and bent over it, placing a kiss on her knuckles. "Ah, beautiful maiden, I did miss you so at breakfast!" He grinned.

Kagome grinned in return. Somehow, he was easy to get along with and she could already tell she would be great friends with him—unlike with a page she already met. "Call me Kagome," she urged him. "I did wake up hours ago, but it took a while to find my way here, and I'm pretty sure I have no idea what I'm doing here."

Miroku blinked but the grin remained in place. "Well, I'm certain lunch is in order then. Come on. Classes started a month ago, but after we eat, I'll skip just for you to show you the ropes." He led her to the lunch line and they took a place in it.

"Don't skip on my behalf." She urged him.

Miroku laughed. "Who said I was skipping _because_ of you? I was looking for an excuse not to go to my afternoon classes today anyway." He grabbed a tray from a rack and she followed suit. A few steps later and they were able to start piling food on their trays. At the end of the line, they grabbed cups of juice and Miroku led Kagome to an already packed table.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed 'Page Fushiro' was entirely alone at a very empty table. He didn't seem to care; he simply ate his food using one hand and had a book propped open in front of him, turning the page with his other hand. Why did he prefer to be alone, she wondered.

She and Miroku sat down as other Apprentice Mages moved to make space for him and her. She sat across the table from him. "This table," Miroku said before she had a chance to ask why he wanted to skip classes, "is where most of the exchange students sit." He poked the girl next to him in the ribcage and she yelped before glaring at him. "Kikyou is your next door neighbor from the Yamani Islands."

Kagome was surprised when she looked at Kikyou. The two looked mostly identical except Kagome had slightly darker skin and dark blue eyes whereas Kikyou's skin was a lighter shade of tan and her eyes were chocolate brown. Kikyou had long black hair just like Kagome, but hers was straight and Kagome was a little curlier. The shape of their faces, the high cheekbones, the almond shaped eyes and the dainty noses were the same for the both of them.

Kikyou tilted her head in acknowledgement, though she said nothing of what she thought of the entirely weird coincidence. She seemed strangely friendly for a Yamani; Kagome had met a few in the Copper Isles and they never showed any emotions but Kikyou didn't seem to be hiding her emotions at all.

"Pleased to meet you, Kagome." She smiled. "As long as you're a quiet neighbor at night, we'll get along."

Kagome smiled at the girl. "I'm sure it won't be a problem, and it's nice to meet you too."

Kikyou then rounded on Miroku and poked him in the upper arm multiple times. She started speaking in the native tongue of her home country. Kagome was able to follow their conversation rather easily. She really was fairly fluent at many languages. "How many times do I have to tell you?" she snapped, "Don't poke me!" She kept poking him.

Miroku held his hands up in mock surrender. Kagome got the distinct impression that it was because of him that the girl wasn't exactly like other Yamani women. Of course, there may have been other factors (she wasn't in the Yamani Islands so maybe she felt like being different?) but either way it was the same result: she seemed nice enough. "Dear heart," he teased Kikyou, "if I listened to everything you told me to do, I would have jumped off the highest tower of the castle thirty-two times already."

Kikyou sent him a scathing glare. "Oh, go jump off a balcony or something," she said finally before turning back to her lunch and a propped up book.

"Are you a Yamani?" Kagome asked Miroku then. He looked like he could be at least part Yamani. She thought back to the story Shippou had told her about Miroku being adopted by a one Lord Raoul.

Miroku glanced at Kagome and smiled. "How did you tell?" he chuckled, not really expecting an answer to that. "I am. My father was a corrupt priest in the Yamani Islands and my mother was an acrobat in a traveling circus. Most of my life was spent with the circus, but a few years ago Lord Raoul decided to adopt me. Poor old goat," Kagome assumed he meant Lord Raoul, "doesn't even know what he got himself into."

Miroku said it so seriously that Kagome couldn't help but burst into laughter. When she was able to calm down, Miroku asked, "What about you? I can't help but notice you and Kikyou look fairly similar."

Kikyou's ears perked toward the conversation but she didn't look up from her book. Kagome explained, "My mama was a Yamani seamstress and my papa's a scoundrel from the Copper Isles. I don't know why we look so similar, since I know mama didn't have a second child."

"Well, that explains it," Miroku nodded decidedly. "You're both Yamani. Anyway," as they talked more, they ate. Miroku introduced her to others at the table. She met a few people from Carthak, Maren, and the Yamani Islands. She committed their names to memory though she doubted she would have very much interaction with them since they didn't seem to like Miroku very much. She couldn't imagine why; he seemed like a fun-loving guy, although he did like to poke Kikyou a lot, and Kagome had a distinct impression (after it happened for the twelfth time) that he wasn't 'accidentally' bumping feet with her underneath the table.

After lunch, Kagome knew a little more about Miroku and Kikyou. The two were a very odd match of friends. Kikyou had joined the exchange program two years prior; one year after Miroku was adopted by his guardian. She was detained in the hall outside her room by Miroku and given a flowery speech about her beauty, grace, and poise. (Kikyou had snorted her disdain at that point of the conversation, almost like she thought the speech completely ridiculous, at which point Miroku pointed out that Kikyou practically acted like she had a stick up her behind when they first met—and that retort earned him a shove off the bench.) As for their actual friendship, neither of them really knew how they ended up friends.

True to his word, Miroku _did_ skip his classes, but not only that, he convinced Kikyou to do it as well, though she grumbled about it and said, "If I miss anything important in class, I'm going to shove you off the highest tower myself." The two of them gave Kagome the full tour of the castle; Kagome noticed some people from the chase the day before (they didn't seem to recognize her).

As they were touring one of the page's courtyards, Kikyou noticed Kagome's bare feet and asked, "Why aren't you wearing shoes?"

Kagome looked at her feet, blinking at them in surprise. "Oh, I don't wear shoes very often. I got used to leg-lace sandals or simply nothing at all. Like I said, my mama was just a seamstress. Didn't have a lot of money for shoes growing up."

Miroku asked curiously, "Then how did you get the money for the exchange program?" They had paused and were standing in the shadows of the page courtyard. The pages were training with staves, and the air was filled with clacking noises and shouts from the supervisors. Some of the pages yelped when their fingers were pinched. Not all of the pages seemed to be visibly male—one tall page was quite obviously unable to bind her breasts completely.

"My Aunt and Uncle on my papa's side of the family are very influential. Generally if they want you to do something, it gets done or there's a high likely chance you'll be smited." Miroku raised his eyebrow at her choice of words. Kagome simply shrugged. "My Aunt can be real freaky."

"I see," Miroku said dubiously as Kikyou just shook her head. "Hey, Kikyou, do you still have those sandals from this summer? Or did you toss them already?"

Kikyou thought for a moment before saying, "Yes, I believe they're at the Ambassador's townhouse in the city."

Kagome knew where they were going with the conversation. "Oh, don't worry about it," she told them. "I do have money _now_ if I want to get shoes. I just don't want to."

Miroku smiled and patted Kagome's shoulder. "You're misunderstanding us," he told her. "We have a very crazy professor who will go completely ballistic if you're not wearing shoes. Plus, it's a safety hazard."

"Oh." Kagome said.

A few moments of reflective silence was spent watching the pages until a loud bell rang and the pages raced out of the courtyard and stumbled over each other into another practice yard. "Eh," Miroku said, "this is another courtyard, and there's a whole bunch more around here."

"Hey, there's Sesshoumaru," Kagome said, pointing to a silver-haired figure at the back of the group walking away from them. For a moment, she almost thought she saw Sesshoumaru pause in his step as though he'd heard her, but then he was walking again and she couldn't be sure that it had actually happened.

"You mean, Page Fushiro." Miroku corrected her in a soft voice, sharing a look with Kikyou.

"Whatever, it's the same thing," Kagome said.

Kikyou shook her head. "He's an Immortal, Kagome," almost as if that explained everything. It didn't really, but Kikyou and Miroku both grabbed one of Kagome's arms and began dragging her away.

Kagome cast a long last glance at Sesshoumaru's back as she said, "So what?" That time, she knew Sesshoumaru stopped. He turned his head, and she could have sworn their eyes locked for a moment as she was pulled after her two new friends.

Miroku explained, "Kagome, he's practically royalty. There are very few Immortals who will even _think_ his given name, and even less who will actually say it. The numbers of mortals who say it are in the zero numbers. I get chills just remembering what happened to the last guy who called him his given name."

Sesshoumaru turned and continued after the others, so Kagome turned to face forward again. "Okay, what happened?" Kagome asked. If it was a really bad thing, maybe she ought to forget that he'd used her as a source of amusement by sending servants chasing after her.

Miroku shuddered and Kikyou paled slightly. "He raised his eyebrow."

Kagome stumbled in surprise. She would have fallen over if the other two were not hanging onto her arms. "Pardon?" she squeaked. That would have been the _last_ thing she would have ever thought of. She'd been thinking more along the lines of a random guy getting maimed or killed or eaten.

"It's a scary look, Kagome!" Kikyou insisted. "It's like he can see straight through you, and he knows all that you're afraid of. And it's like he knows exactly how to make your worst nightmares come true!"

Miroku nodded his agreement. "And that look wasn't even directed _at_ us, we were just off to the side, but you want to know where that guy is now?" Kagome rolled her eyes at their behavior but she nodded anyway. "Dead!"

"Uwah…" Kagome breathed in amazement and turned to look at Sesshoumaru again, but he wasn't there. He'd already gone. Of course, being the daughter of a high stakes gambler, Kagome ended up with some of his high risk habits and she decided she wanted to eventually see if that were true.

"Anyway!" Miroku chirped as they reentered the castle. He smirked and Kikyou groaned.

"Oh no. Miroku, we don't need to spend all night in the Gallery waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" he asked innocently. Miroku beamed brightly with that smirk somehow still in place. "Come along, Kagome-darling," he said, dragging her along with him. "You must see this wonderful gallery of portraits!"

Kagome looked to Kikyou for an explanation. Kikyou trotted to catch up and then sighed. "The hall of past and present kings and queens of Tortall," she said. "I swear, if one could love a portrait, he would have married at least thirty times."

"Thirty?" Kagome gasped in shock. That was a lot!

Kikyou added, "A day."

"Thirty times a day?!" Kagome's jaw dropped.

"For the past two years, at least," Kikyou finished. Kagome glanced at her new friend, wondering of his sanity. How does one love a portrait anyway?

-

It was official. Miroku was in love with a bunch of pictures. He knew practically everything about the royalty in the portrait and they couldn't leave the Gallery until Miroku had listed everything about the queens from their favorite colors all the way to how faithful (or unfaithful in some cases) they were to their king and what their political stand on most issues were.

Kagome wasn't even sure if anything Miroku said was true or not, or if it was all in his very active imagination. Kagome would have loved to leave, but unfortunately Miroku kept a death grip on her arm until they left the Gallery close to midnight.

She was only too grateful to get back to her room. By that time, they found they'd missed supper because of Miroku's ranting, but Kagome was too tired to care. She just wanted to go to the bathroom, brush her teeth, and be done with the night.

Connected to her room—just like most other Apprentice rooms, she supposed—was a small privy. A servant had left a bowl of clean wash water in the privy which she took liberty to use. She looked through her crates of items for a clean breast band and loincloth, changing into those.

Tomorrow, she promised herself she would sew together a simple bit of clothing so she didn't have to keep re-wearing the pink skirt and petticoats and tunic. She took those off to sleep, hanging them over the back of her desk chair so she could save it a few wrinkles. She did have plenty of changes of her Apprentice robes, but she still carefully hung that over her chair too.

Even knowing that locking the door wouldn't keep Miroku out, she still locked the door that night. She slept peacefully that night and forced herself to wake up early so she could start organizing her few items in the room. The next day after a quiet breakfast, Kikyou and Miroku showed Kagome to Reeve's office in Accounting. Things like scheduling had all been taken care of for her by Headman Cooper, but she'd lost the parchment labeling her classes in the shipwreck so she had to have another copy made.

Reeve really was a stuffy old goat, just like Shippou had said, but he was quick and efficient (and made Kagome pay for the additional schedule, saying, "Maybe next time you'll think twice about losing your schedule!") and the three Apprentices were on their way again before the first class of the day started.

Kagome was two years behind Kikyou and Miroku in age, but she had most of her classes with Miroku since he was two years behind Kikyou in his work. Both of them were seventeen, and Kagome was fifteen. Miroku did have two classes with Kikyou. His Gift allowed him to both Heal and Destroy. Kikyou's Gift took her down the path of being a Healer. Kagome's Gift was just weird. She personally couldn't explain it, but sometimes it seemed it depended entirely on her mood whether or not she could heal or destroy.

It really wasn't the same as Miroku's Gift, because sometimes the Gift she had from her mother's side of the family simply wasn't there at all and all she had was the weird magic from her father's side of the family which she didn't exactly classify as a Gift. It wasn't a curse, since she loved to use it, but it too was very weird.

Still, she found out quickly that the first half of her day was taken to lectures from various subjects at various times on entirely random days. Then depending on the time in the afternoon, and what day it was, she had lab in the afternoon where she could practice actually using the Gift she had. It got to be very boring by the time lunch rolled around and Kagome simply could not imagine why Miroku would choose to skip the afternoon classes.

After lunch and by Miroku's request, Kagome put on shoes. The shoes Shippou had gotten her were dress shoes, a simple gray in color. He probably chose them to match her Apprentice robes, but either way it worked nicely. They weren't all that _comfortable_ but that was another complaint entirely. Since they were Apprentices, they didn't have to wear normal shoes, and aside from that, most of Tortall was all about fashion. Kagome guessed if there were a shoe requirement, it would be lost in translation.

By the time Labs were over, Kagome almost felt like crawling into a hole and remaining there. Miroku had seen what a lot of other Apprentices had and a lot of people were teasing her for it.

Today ended up being one of the days when her Gift didn't seem to be there at all. Everyone knew there was a definable difference between having the Gift and being unable to grasp a concept…and not having a Gift at all.

Of course, she _understood_ what the lesson was, and definitely could picture her Gift doing it, but that was only under the exception that the Gift was _there_ to begin with. She could barely face dinner, which was saying something since it was only the third day. And there she was, responsible for the honor of all the Copper Isles' mages. She wasn't doing all that well at it.

"Are you okay?" Miroku asked her worriedly as he fell in step with her on the way to the page mess hall. Kagome didn't answer him as yet more of the Apprentices passed her and Miroku, giggling about how 'great' the Copper Isles mages were.

Kikyou met them outside the mess and silence consumed them as they made their way into the dinner line. Kikyou had heard of Kagome's troublesome afternoon—most of the pages probably already knew as well, since it was the height of gossip at that particular moment.

The mages wouldn't let her sit back at their table. They made room for Kikyou and Miroku, and pretended to be shifting until Kagome's two friends were seated. There was no leftover room anywhere else in the mess hall either, since people were cramping so they didn't have to sit at Sesshoumaru's table.

Miroku was very offended. "Make room, guys!" he said.

Kagome knew better than to argue with that many people. "I'll talk to you later, Miroku," she said and went to sit at Sesshoumaru's table. She sat at the opposite end from him, not knowing if he would laugh at her too if she got too close.

_I'm off to a great start,_ she thought, slouching over her meal. _Third day's a charm._

"Dear Aunt," she prayed softly, her head bowed, "I hope you're happy, because I'm not." She sighed and picked up her fork, scooping up her vegetables before they could get cold. "So mote it be," she whispered and ate the vegetables.

**Thanks mega loads for all the reviews guys/girls! I just want everyone to know that this story is purposefully written in a wacky manner. It's for the pure purpose of me having a story that isn't too angsty **(most of my stories turn out that way) **so please don't be mad that there is OOCness in it!! I love you all, and still want your feedback. Just don't be too hard on me, okay? Hehe... **

_PS. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I accidentally got addicted to Naruto fanfiction..._


	4. I need some supplies

**Title: Magic Thief  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: No sir__. _

_This is the first story I've ever made Sesshoumaru totally uncool in... Usually he's this unbeatable, perfect thingy. Wait, there was that one where he was a girl--oh, yeah, but he was still cool in that one. Okay..._

Chapter four  
I need some supplies...

Three long weeks had passed and still Kagome's Gift had chosen not to 'divine' her with its presence. It was making her quite bitter the more she thought about it. Sure, it meant the Gift from her father was present stronger than normal, but she wasn't in Corus to learn how to use her father's gift. She already knew how to use it; as if her father would let her get away with not knowing…

She peeled off the shoe that had caused her to stumble in the darkness. She really hated shoes and even though she'd written to Raj'muat to request them to send a few leg-lace sandals, she hadn't received them quite yet. Her letter was probably just getting to the Isles as it was.

Kagome leaned against the fence; she'd snuck out of her room despite curfew (what fifteen year old _wasn't_ a bit rebellious after all?) and come to the page's practice yards. She had been on her way to the archery range—it was where she'd been spending her evenings after curfew to practice her father's magic—and the shortest route to get there was through the page's tilting yard.

Someone from above had decided it would be hilarious to make it rain that day, and the tilting yard was a muddy pockmarked with deep puddles. The mud kept getting caught on the hems of her red dress and apprentice robes and sucking her shoes (and therefore her feet) down into the muck.

"Stupid shoes," Kagome grumbled, taking off the other one as well. She carried the things by the laces—which had been red ribbon at one time, but were now brown. The shoes themselves had no hope of ever looking gray again, she was sure.

Illuminated by the moonlight, she figured she might as well pretend they didn't exist. She looked down at her dress. Since she couldn't practice with her Gift what with it being depressingly absent, she'd spent her evenings (when the theory class work was completed) making clothes for herself until it was late enough she could go to the practice yards. Her mother would have scolded her for what she'd done to the clothes she was wearing now. The cloth had been expensive, a beautiful red she just had to have after seeing it in the palace tailor's.

She'd spent a lot of money on it because people would have known immediately it was her if she stole it. But now? _What a waste_, she thought. _But I have come this far. The archery range isn't much further._

That was true enough. Kagome looked at the fence she stood by only for a moment before shaking her head. She would leave a path if she walked along the top of the fence, although it would be very easy to do…

She continued trudging her way across the yard, now carrying her shoes. She didn't get stuck in the muck half as much without her shoes, but her dress hem suffered a good six inches of damage as compared to five when she had her shoes on. If her mother was watching her from the Realm of the Black God, Kagome was _so_ screwed when she got there…

She passed the stables and, with the ground free of muck on the incline, she raced up the slight incline to the archery range. Once she was there she tossed her shoes by the fence that divided one yard from another. She wasn't there to practice with a bow and arrow (her ability with them was laughable). Instead, all she had come for was the targets.

Kagome used a different sort of long-range weapon. One thing Kagome had come to note about the mage apprentices no matter where she went was that they were highly reliant on magic. A few of them learned a bit of staff work, just in case an enemy managed to get close, but they seemed to learn it only in their final year at the university.

Kagome had been taught hand-to-hand and close quarters combat with knives and daggers since she was seven (basically when her father found out about her existence), and she wasn't allowed to be anything less than the best. Not only that, but her father also taught her some rather uncommon and vulgar ways to turn anything into a weapon. A needle, according to her father, could be more deadly than a sword if used right.

She approached the target, stopping about halfway between where the page's would stand with a bow and the target, taking off her favorite weapon from where it resided on her body. She had dozens of them, blatantly hidden in the open. The first one to come off her right wrist was one of the thick copper rings she wore. It had some mud on it, but that didn't bother her; it would come off with a bit of water.

Unlike her dress… A sigh escaped her. Sometimes she wasn't sure if she liked knowing that even in the Black God's home, her mother could see her. Actually, most of the time she cursed the day she met the Black God.

Kagome pressed on the ring and it released the sharp edge which was normally hidden. Each of the rings were a gift of Kyprioth, god of her beloved Copper Isles, given to her in the effort of keeping her safe. It was almost amusing to think that Kyprioth actually worried about someone other than himself. Aly Cooper had always been jealous, saying Kyprioth never cared when Aly was amidst danger, but then again Aly could never say something about the Trickster God without her eyes sparkling in a humored light. So maybe she wasn't actually jealous…

_Time to begin the dance…_ Kagome thought, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She called upon her father's Gift and it silenced the jangling of the remaining bracelets and anklets, despite the fact that they still would bump each other.

Her eyes snapped open and she slid her feet apart, turning her body slightly as she did so. In one, smooth, whip-like motion she had hurled the God-gifted weapon at the target with her left hand. Before it even had a chance to hit, Kagome had another prepared—this one taken from her left wrist—and threw it with her right hand. That was something her father had drilled into her; a woman unable to use both hands was disadvantaged.

When there were no more bracelets on her arms, she narrowed her vision on the target, using her father's Gift to enhance her vision. She winced at what she saw—she was still missing the bull's eye. Sure, it was good she made the target every time at the speed she had been moving, but unless all her enemies were _really_ fat, she'd lose. Even then, she probably wouldn't hit enough vitals to kill, especially if it were an Immortal.

Sure, she wasn't exactly expecting to ever be in the position where it was life or death one way or another, but this was stuff she had no choice but to learn. If she didn't keep practicing, Neiji the crow (who was probably watching her at that very moment) would probably show himself and of course he would be only too happy to teach her a lesson. If she could get away with it, she'd love it only too much to throttle the dumb crow.

Kagome lifted her arms up and pushed her father's gift out toward the target. The bracelets, called by the magic, dislodged from the target and flew toward her, circling her before one by one they slid onto the arm they came from.

"So you _do_ have magic," a voice said from behind Kagome.

Startled, Kagome turned around only to find her momentary fear at being caught out after curfew turn into irritation at being caught by Sesshoumaru. Hadn't that boy caused her enough trouble? The very first day she came to Corus, he made it so a bucket load of servants started chasing after her with cleavers.

Then when her mother's Gift wouldn't show and she got 'evicted' from the Apprentice's lunch tables in the page's mess, and the only place for her to sit was at his very large table, he caught her in the hall one day when she was alone and threatened her so she would stop sitting at his table "because he didn't want company".

She didn't really listen to his threat, of course… With a high-stakes swindler for a father, how could she have resisted the challenge? She kept sitting at his table, glaring at him while she ate. Miroku and Kikyou tried to convince her to eat somewhere—anywhere—else. They even offered to join her for lunch in her room every day. Miroku said he could probably convince a maid to bring lunch for the three to Kagome's room, but after being threatened, Kagome's stubbornness kicked in.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Kagome snapped at him, releasing her father's Gift so that her anklets and bracelets jangled against one another. She wanted to cross her arms over her chest, but she didn't want to injure herself on the sharp edges.

"I could ask you the same thing," Sesshoumaru told her coldly.

Kagome glared at Sesshoumaru, her blue eyes blazing angrily. He was unaffected by it, which really annoyed her even more because even Kyprioth the Trickster God sought to appease her anger (usually with gifts) when she glared like she was doing now. But for some reason, her glare had no affect on the Immortal before her.

When Sesshoumaru refused to do anything but stare emotionlessly at her, Kagome growled. "What do you want, _Sesshoumaru_," she said, purposefully saying his given name. She knew the rumors from Kikyou and Miroku about how very few got away with saying his given name, which only made her want to chance fate. And so far, fate was either very generous, or Sesshoumaru wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

For a moment, Sesshoumaru said nothing. Then, very slowly, a cold smirk tilted his lips. The glow of the moonlight on him caused him to look very sinister in that second. "You are far too familiar with me." He told her. "I have allowed your disobedience to go on long enough."

"_Allowed_?" Kagome snapped, taking a step closer to the Immortal. He wasn't afraid of her anger. In fact, it seemed to amuse him. "You haven't allowed me anything, Sesshoumaru. I'll do what I want to; I don't need _permission_."

Sesshoumaru licked his lips in anticipation. "Good, then I won't feel bad about this," he said, raising a very sharp, _very_ dangerous looking sword. It was the first time she noticed the sword in the page's hand.

Kagome's body washed cool and calm as she saw the sword glinting in the moonlight. She readied herself for his approach, using her father's magic to silence the jewelry. As she expected, Sesshoumaru came at her. She used her father's magic, scowl turning into a smirk, and completely hid her presence. She was invisible to his eyes, his ears, his nose… And it was over very quickly.

She spun out of the way of the descending sword and braced herself, launching a powerful kick on his left arm. She heard the bone snap and he growled, dropping his sword to favor the arm. "Lesson number one, my papa always says," Kagome told him, reappearing where she stood, "don't outright attack someone better than you."

He turned to level a hateful sneer at her. She was probably the only person who had ever dared to defy him. One day, she thought, he would be perfect at hiding his emotions. He barely showed any emotion that she had seen in the past three weeks. Tonight, he was angry or irritated enough that he was unable to hide it all.

"What kind of witch magic are you using?" he growled.

Kagome couldn't stop a laugh. "The best kind, of course!" she said.

"Then why do you not show your magic in your mage training?"

"Are you allowed to use your Immortal magic in _your_ training?" Kagome inquired.

Kagome could tell he was thinking about that, and it made her smile to know she'd gotten under his skin. He was bristling, and he barely knew her. "Are you suggesting you're an Immortal?" he asked, his nose twitching as he sniffed at her scent.

"Immortal? No." She found it amusing that he was so curious. His desire to know about her was probably from the fact that no human had ever managed to lay a hand on him before. How did she know? Rumors, the wind that held up the walls of the castle, told a lot about Sesshoumaru Fushiro.

She heard chatter in the distance and coming closer. Glancing at him, she could tell he had also heard it. Kagome wasn't about to get caught out after hours, so she left their 'conversation' at that. He was fuming as she darted toward the fence and picked up her shoes. Then she spread her invisibility spell once more across her body and made her way back to her room, taking the long way instead of the muddy short cut.

_I'm going to have to work extra hard, or one day he's going to surpass me in abilities. We're evenly matched now—if I don't use my invisible spell. But that's not enough. I need to be better, because after tonight, I don't doubt he's going to hate me more._ Kagome winced slightly at the thought of what she just did, now that she thought about it.

She was sure she would never have an enemy who wanted to kill her, but wasn't that what Sesshoumaru just tried to do? Did he honestly think he could kill her and get away with it?

Kagome slid into her room and closed the shutters on her window. Not only would she have Neiji's nonsense to worry about now, but she'd have Sesshoumaru angrier than ever at her. Was it too late to go back to the Copper Isles? Surely he would never find her if she stashed herself away in a tower somewhere…

Wait, she wasn't afraid, was she? Just because the boy was a bit angry? Was she backing down from a challenge? Ha! As if. Her father would ridicule her for _centuries_ if she backed down. She wouldn't even get reprieve from his ridicule in the Black God's Realm. No, she would have to stick this one out, and make sure to keep practicing. She would write to Aly and ask her to send some very specific supplies she could use.

Ah, and while she was at it, she might just ask Aly to send some more cloth. Then she could make herself some new dresses. She fell back onto her rather small bed, her legs hanging over the side. It was as though she barely closed her eyes before the morning bell was ringing. The sound of it made her shoot straight up in bed, her breathing coming in heavy pants as she raised her right arm, preparing to take a bracelet off with her left hand…

"Uwah…" she muttered as she realized she wasn't wearing them…

"It was foolish to lie down with the blades released," Neiji said from across the room.

Kagome yelped and fell off the bed, her legs tangled in the muddy dress as she struggled to get into a defensive position. "How'd you get in here, damn bird?" she asked, turning to glare at him. Instead of a crow, she saw a man perched on her desk. Her face flamed as she saw he wasn't wearing clothes, but her eyes could see the feather-like pattern in his skin that normal vision would never see. "Uwah!" she cried, covering her eyes. "Put on something!"

Neiji snickered as only a crow could do. "I'm not here to please you," he said, "just watch over you, and teach you a lesson if you decide to slack off." Kagome backed away from Neiji as he slid off the desk and moved toward her easily on two legs as though he'd been born in a human body. "You should have been more careful…" Neiji's eyes blazed with a crazed light as he cornered her in her room.

She knew she could have dodged the blow that left the side of her face burning, but it would have only made things worse if she had. "Careful about what?" Kagome growled defiantly. She had never agreed with Nawat Crow's decision to make Neiji her watcher. She had complained about it to her father, but even her father wouldn't listen to her. Neiji wasn't safe to be around—not for her. But no one listened…

"No one is to know!" Neiji yelled at her, so close she could smell the stink of bugs on his breath. "You hold power! A power that will make you a target as it did in Raj'muat! Why do you think you were sent here? Rather than wage war against your aunt and uncle, why do you think your father _agreed_?"

Kagome pushed herself further from Neiji, grinding her teeth together in anger and frustration over being scolded—yet again—by the crow. She fixed her eyes firmly on the wall, wincing when Neiji's hand touched her cheek gently, almost as if he actually cared…

She knew better though. He was a crow to the very core. He cared about shiny things, and to him, she was as dull as anything could possibly be. Worse still, he was a manipulative crow who had learned to twist the truth into a lie. "Don't you think I know that?" Kagome demanded spitefully.

Neiji's long fingers grasped her neck suddenly, squeezing and he lifted her up with his powerful strength. A voice in her head told her to fight back, but she did not. She could have put up a fight, certainly, but Neiji had the advantage as a human. Not only that, but she already knew her father could not See her.

Coughing, her fingers gripping the wrist that held her aloft, it was a struggle to breathe. "Don't take that tone against _me_, girl!" he threw her across the room and she bit her lip to keep from crying out as she crashed into the chair. "If he tells anyone—"

"He won't!" Kagome insisted, lifting her head. She could feel bruises forming all over her body. She supposed that was to be expected; she'd managed to break the chair and was lying in the debris. "He won't tell anyone! If he did, he'd end up admitting he was overcome by a girl, and he won't say anything because his pride couldn't take that blow!"

Neiji glared down at her. "You'd better hope you're right…"

And just like that, Neiji transformed into his crow form and flew out the upper shutter. Kagome winced as she sat up, forcing herself to get up and close the upper shutter. That was where she noticed the bowl of water on the bedside table. All of her bracelets and anklets were in there minus the one she'd given to Lady Alanna. She reached in and grabbed one, pressing on it to release the hidden blade.

_One of these days, Neiji…_ she thought. _You'll see…_

She knew she was special. She knew she had to train extra diligently. She didn't need _Neiji's_ kind of motivation…

Then in one smooth, sweeping motion, she flung the God-given weapon. It lodged itself into the stone of the fireplace, perfectly. If even her father wouldn't believe Neiji was _not_ good, then she would have to overcome Neiji's powerful stature and defeat him herself. She would have to show that crow that he couldn't walk on her.

Not on her…

-

"Ah, good morning, Kagome, and what a beautiful morning it…" Miroku trailed off as he finally got a look at Kagome's face. "What a sunrise," Miroku muttered, his blue-gray eyes wide as he registered the drastic change in her appearance.

Kagome smiled at the boy, but her lip split open and she couldn't help but wince. No matter how many times she endured a split lip (it was a frequent visitor in her life), she never got used to the feeling of her lip splitting open again. She already knew that her left eye was black and blue and rather puffy. She also had a nice little cut on her right cheek from landing on a sharp piece of chair-debris.

She was wearing a gray scarf around her neck to hide the finger-print bruising from Neiji choking her, and the long sleeves of the gray apprentice robe covered her arms quite nicely to hide the bruises and cuts (her chair had been vengeful over being smashed) on them. She'd managed to find some fingerless gloves that covered her palms, although her fingers were also scraped up. However, Miroku was too distracted by her face to notice her hands. The rest of the bruising from contacting the chair was simpler to cover—she just chose a black dress she'd made that had a high neckline.

She had made an effort to do her hair in a manner that would hide the bruising on her face, but Miroku still noticed. Even as the line of people behind them in the page's mess hall grumbled about their lack of movement, Miroku ignored them and reached out and brushed her hair behind her ear, revealing the bruising more.

"What happened?" Miroku asked, his eyes growing suddenly narrow and hard.

Kagome let out an embarrassed little giggle and threw out the prepared lie easily. "I was sort of dumb, see. I'm still not used to the city life here, so when I tried to close the upper shutters in my room, I lost my balance and landed on my chair this morning. And since the chair wasn't so happy with me, it retaliated!"

Miroku looked at Kagome suspiciously before shoving from behind them grew too much and they were forced forward again. "Kagome, that's," Miroku began.

Kagome shook her head. "Really, it's no big deal, Miroku! I'll just see if Shippou can get me a new chair." Kagome quickly slipped around Miroku in the line and grabbed a tray, loading it up with her breakfast food.

"Kagome," Miroku tried again, but Kagome just rolled her good eye at him.

"I can tell you're worried, Miroku, but don't be. I get into regular fights with inanimate objects; I'm just clumsy. My papa says I'm the clumsiest person in the whole world." _Except that's not entirely true,_ Kagome thought, despite the innocent look she was giving Miroku. He sighed and dropped the subject like she wanted, and she carried her tray over to Sesshoumaru's table. _I may be a bit clumsy, but not this bad. Never this bad…_

This morning, she sat directly across from the page, smirking at him. He focused on his tray and attempted to ignore her. She knew she couldn't be ignored for long, however. The poor Immortal didn't even want to spare her a single glance.

"Good morning, Sesshoumaru!" Kagome chirped, looking at his left arm. It was in a splint, and that made her smirk even wider. "My, oh my!" she taunted him, quite unable to resist the urge to do so, "Whatever happened to your arm, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru was visibly grinding his teeth. He looked up at her, his golden eyes ablaze, and he was going to say something but then his eyes honed in on her injuries and his brows knit together in frustration. He was probably dying to know what could possibly best her if she managed to break his arm in one move.

"Now that I have your attention," Kagome's smirk widened and even though no one around them would hear her, she still lowered her voice. "I want you to meet me again when your arm is healed. Same place, same time."

"Tch," he ground out, neither agreeing to go nor declining. He turned his burning eyes on his tray and she supposed it was only his stubbornness that kept him from leaving the mess early. She merely ignored his anger and ate her food, finishing up quickly and leaving the mess hall behind.

She wasn't crazy, she told herself. But Sesshoumaru had managed to subdue her that first day she arrived in Corus while the rest of the guards and pages had not managed to do so. They were on equal ground if she didn't use her invisibility spell, and she was going to use his pride against him. He would show up for the challenge, and she'd use him as a sparring partner so she could become stronger.

She would use him as a means to be more powerful. And if he thought he was wasting his time on her, she'd pull out her trump card—the invisibility spell—and kick his ass so thoroughly his pride would force him to crawl back and fight her.

_Neiji…_ she thought, her eyes narrowing as she stopped in the corridor by a window to the outside. She put a hand on the bracelets on her right wrist. If no one but she could see that Neiji meant her more harm than good, then she would simply have to do something about it herself.

Later that day, during the practice labs, Kagome found herself cornered by Kikyou and Miroku and neither of them looked pleased. Kagome sent a—hopefully—innocent smile at her friends. "Uh, hello guys, um," she began.

Miroku crossed his arms over his chest while Kikyou merely narrowed her eyes at Kagome. "Kagome, what happened to you, really?" Kikyou demanded, reaching out to Kagome with fingers that glowed white with her gift.

Kagome gripped Kikyou's wrist, keeping it from touching her face. "I told Miroku already! I fell on my chair this morning."

"Chairs don't talk, Kagome!" Kikyou insisted. "I heard talking in your room, and then shouting."

Kagome stiffened visibly, although she knew she should just play it cool. She couldn't help it. "You didn't hear what was said, did you?" she asked, trying to keep the urgency out of her voice.

Kikyou and Miroku shared a look at each other as Kikyou pulled her hand back, seeing as how Kagome didn't want the 'help' with healing. "No, Kagome," Miroku said, "Kikyou said she couldn't make out what exactly was said."

"Good," Kagome felt relief at hearing that.

"Is there—something going between you and Page Fushiro, Kagome?" Kikyou asked. "Did he do this to you?"

Kagome was shocked at the sudden accusation, but she shook her head at the laughable idea. Smiling at her friends and scratching the back of her head, she said, "Uwah, no! As if Sesshoumaru could land a hit on me!"

Miroku shook his head at Kagome as though he wasn't sure if he should believe her. "Kagome, Page Fushiro is rumored to be a highly skilled fighter. I even heard Lord Toga once say that Page Fushiro was a 'killing perfection'."

_That's not what I saw last night_, Kagome thought, laughing nervously at her friends' concern.

Kikyou added, "We're not joking here, Kagome. You shouldn't keep mixing with Page Fushiro; people who do usually end up dead."

Kagome sighed and opened her mouth to speak, but thankfully the conversation was over when the mage instructor came over and started to yell at them for slacking. Kagome and her friends then proceeded ahead with the lab… or at least, her friends did.

Kagome glared at the orb on the table in front of her. She was supposed to push her Gift into the orb and cause it to light up… That would be easy, if her mother's Gift was even _there._ It still had yet to grace her with its presence since that first day in Corus when she blew up a door. Once more her teacher began to yell at her for her lack in ability, and she scratched the back of her neck, apologizing for being so 'unskilled'.

Internally she seethed. _When my Gift comes back, I'll show you… I'll blow up this whole room! Then we'll see whose so unskilled, you jerk!_

-

Corus was a beautiful place, Kagome thought as she sat on the window ledge of her room a week later. She loved her window especially because she was on the second floor and had a rather nice view of a courtyard with an old tree below. Sparrows littered that tree and made it their home. Across the courtyard, she could look into a couple of squire rooms on the second floor (those squires who had no master) if they had their windows open, and on the first floor she could even watch as pages caused trouble for their rivals if they were silly enough to leave their window open.

It was the trickery of the pages that made her giggle as she sat on the window's ledge with her legs dangling out. "Kagome, you shouldn't sit on the sill," Kikyou told her a bit apprehensively as the girl came into Kagome's room with her class work. Kikyou was afraid of heights, and it almost made Kagome want to taunt the girl by 'falling' out of the window. She didn't, simply because she already knew Kikyou and Miroku were suspicious that something was out of the ordinary about Kagome.

She didn't need to give them more cause to believe their suspicions…

Miroku yawned as he followed Kikyou into the room. Kagome didn't understand how Miroku was tired still. He'd skipped afternoon labs so he could nap, so he should have been quite awake. "Kikyou, my darling, sunshine of the world that is knowledge," he began, still a bit lecherous despite being half asleep, "would you _please_ help me with this math?"

Kikyou rolled her eyes. "Only if you jump out the window there."

Kagome laughed. "Go on, Miroku! I'll catch you!" she told him.

Miroku winced playfully, "How could I resist such a bargain?" he asked them both. His eyes wandered to Kagome's current project. "Another dress?" he asked her.

"Mm, uwah!" Kagome said, using the word they had come to know had dozens of meanings for her despite the fact that it didn't exactly exist in any language that either of them knew. "This one is almost finished." She turned to look back out the window, her fingers skilled enough to work without the aid of her eyes.

Miroku and Kikyou settled on the bed, pulling out their work to start on. Kagome didn't have any to work on; she'd skipped labs since she knew it wouldn't make a difference if she went or not. Her Gift was M.I.A. at the moment, so she'd simply gone to her room after lunch and completed all the class work before picking up the nearly completed dress project.

After a few minutes of silent working, Miroku asked, "Where did you learn to sew anyway, Kagome?" They had stopped bothering to ask why she was in the university if she didn't seem to have any magic, because she wouldn't answer them and the atmosphere grew tight and silent when they did.

Kagome felt a smile cross her face as she narrowed her vision on one window across the courtyard in particular. Sesshoumaru had just opened his shutters. His eyes immediately went to her window and gold clashed with blue. His arm was still in the splint. Humans took four to six weeks to heal a broken bone, Kagome thought. She wondered if Immortals took the same amount of time, or if they would heal faster.

His eyes narrowed and then he turned to his desk and pulled out some work, but he was still watching her… his eyes never left hers.

"Oh," Kagome said in reply to Miroku, not about to be the first to break the staring contest… "Didn't I tell you? My mama was a seamstress. She taught me everything I know about sewing, and I guess I just picked it up. My papa insists I was born with a needle in my hand, because I can make clothes even the Gods like."

Kikyou said, "That's a pretty big boast, Kagome… are you sure you should say things like that?"

Sesshoumaru scowled at her, his expression telling her to back down. Hadn't he figured out that she wasn't one to back down? He blinked and then looked away, looking annoyed. She smiled smugly. "Kyprioth, God of the Copper Isles, wears a gold tunic I made for him." Even she couldn't tell if she was feeling smug because she won, or because Kyprioth wore the clothes she made.

Both of Kagome's friends looked startled to hear that. "The God of thieves?" Miroku asked, astonished.

Kikyou lowered her voice, whispering as though to keep the Gods themselves from hearing her, "We shouldn't talk so freely of the Gods! Especially that one!"

Kagome laughed at Kikyou's superstitions. "Aww, why not? You know, Kyprioth _loves_ it when his subjects sit around chatting about his greatness. It makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You know, like big and important, only he's really not."

Kikyou looked astounded and a bit afraid. "Kagome, if you talk bad about the Gods, they'll get mad!"

Kagome turned and winked at Kikyou. "Even the Gods fear me, Kikyou! I know—the Black God won't have me, and the Gods don't want me in their Realm, so I'm not really afraid of being smited by them. They just sort of sit up there and seethe, unwilling to rain punishment on my disobedient hide."

Kikyou gulped and Miroku laughed. "Kagome, you really enjoy inviting trouble, don't you?" he asked.

Kagome nodded, smiling in amusement, and finished up the last stitch, tying off the string and using her teeth to snip it. She stuck the needle in between her teeth and turned the dress proper, climbing back in the window to hold it up. "Well, Kikyou? Why don't you go try it on?" she asked the girl.

The girl blushed. "What?"

"I made this one for you! It's a simple pattern; I didn't want to do anything too elaborate because I knew just stuffing you in anything other than your traditional kimono was going to be tough enough. I was guessing on the measurements too, so hopefully it fits." Kagome knew it would, but she wasn't going to tell Kikyou she'd crawled into her room in the middle of the night to sneak the measurements…

A bit hesitantly (and only at Miroku's urging) Kikyou left her work on Kagome's bed to take the dress in hand. "Thank you…" Kikyou murmured.

Kagome simply nodded and reached for the small package on her desk. "And this one is for you, Miroku," she told the boy, tossing it to him. She had puzzled for hours trying to figure out how to get his measurements. He was a much lighter sleeper than Kikyou, and woke up at the barest of noises, the simplest of touches. Finally she managed to get his measurements from the castle tailors, but it hadn't been easy and it cost her a pretty penny on top of the cloth itself that she used to make their outfits.

That was something she'd need to remedy soon, too. She was running out of money. Either she would have to write back home and ask for more to be sent, or she could always use option B she supposed…

Miroku caught the package, looking surprised. "Lord Raoul keeps me well clothed," Miroku told her, objecting to the gift.

Kagome grinned at him. "I'm sure the Yamani ambassador keeps Kikyou well clothed too, but didn't stop me. Just try them on—I want to see they fit, in case adjustments need to be made."

"Alright," Miroku said, frowning at the gift but saying no more as he made to go across the hall into his room. Kagome ushered Kikyou into the tiny privy room adjoining Kagome's chambers. Once Kikyou had closed herself in the privy room, Kagome returned to her window and glanced out it, down at Sesshoumaru's room. He must have sensed someone watching him, because he turned to look out and again their eyes met.

Kagome smiled and waved a little down at him. His eye twitched in irritation and he turned back to his work.

She heard Miroku's door across the hall open and the boy walked into Kagome's room looking very apprehensive. Kagome turned around, beaming at Miroku. He looked very nice in the gold shirt and deep purple tunic she'd made him. She even made him black leggings to go with his outfit, but his expression gave the impression that he just wanted _out_ of the clothes.

Kikyou stepped out of the privy at that moment, wearing the dress Kagome had made. The dress was made in the same deep purple color, but the sleeves were gold. She'd sewn purple ribbon on the hems of the sleeves, and gold ribbon on the hem of the dress. Gold ribbon also edged the low neckline, ending in a cute little bow that tied against her bosom. Kikyou also looked like she wanted out of the clothes.

"You guys look wonderful!" Kagome complimented them.

Miroku asked, "What exactly are we supposed to wear this stuff for?"

"The Mage's Midwinter Ball?" Kagome suggested. They both looked blankly at Kagome. "Don't you guys have that here?"

"Oh we have that," Kikyou said, "but…" Kikyou shook her head.

Kagome raised an eyebrow at them and tapped one foot impatiently. "…But…?"

"We usually skip out after the first half hour," Miroku finished. "So we don't really dress up much."

Kagome threw her lower lip out in a pout and leaned on her window sill. "Well, that's boring! So what do you do for the rest of the night? Sneak into the city and gamble against the King of Thieves for the rest of the night?" She leaned backwards, stretching out of the window. The action made Kikyou quite nervous.

"Kagome, please! Don't do that!" Kikyou begged her.

Kagome laughed and pulled herself back in the window, her jewelry jangling musically. "Alrigh—" she trailed off, her eyes snapping to the door. She could hear footsteps coming closer… closer… closer…

"Kagome, are you alright?" Kikyou asked her.

The door was open. It usually was when Miroku and Kikyou were in her room. "Fine, fine, sorry." She told them. "So where do you go?" she looked at Miroku and then Kikyou as she asked that. "And why don't you stay?"

"Mages, as a general whole, are all pompous snobs," Miroku snorted.

Kikyou smiled secretively, "If you tried, you could fit in."

"You don't even need to try," Miroku retorted, and then chuckled as Kikyou giggled. "I've tried to convince Kikyou to go on romantic walks with me, instead," Miroku continued and then sighed dramatically. "But alas, she refuses me even still."

"Oh, please!" Kikyou crossed her arms over her chest in irritation. "Your idea of a romantic proposal is fornication in a deserted section of the castle. You are the worst sort of peasant." Miroku blushed and laughed nervously. "And don't deny it." She looked at Kagome. "When you get to know this scamp better, he'll ask you to 'bear his children' outright."

Kagome blinked, watching the argument as it bounced back and forth between the other two apprentice mages. After a moment, Kikyou grew even more irritable and she threw out her conversation ending statement. "Oh, go jump off a tower!" Somehow… Miroku had won that argument, although his cheeks were pink.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._ The three apprentices turned their eyes to the doorway. Kagome grinned to see Aly Cooper standing in the way, leaning casually against the door frame. She was wearing a cloak with the hood up to hide her presence, although Kagome knew Aly's presence would not go unknown by George Cooper, Spymaster of Tortall. Not by a long shot. In fact, Aly probably even let the old man know about her presence just to taunt him in the game the two played.

Sometimes father and daughter were too much alike…

"Aly!" Kagome chirped, rushing to hug the older woman. In the absence of her own mother, Aly had taken a bit of a role. She could never replace her mother, but she certainly held a special place in Kagome's heart.

"Kagome, I hope you're doing your best to stir up trouble for these Tortallans," Aly smirked, tugging Kagome's ear lightly. Kagome laughed. Aly's attention turned to Kikyou and Miroku and she appeared surprised as she saw Kikyou. "Oh, for the love of… Kagome, please tell me your father didn't have two of you."

Kagome glanced at Kikyou and her smile widened. "Uwah, nah. Both Kikyou's parents are still kicking."

"I wouldn't put it past your father to set his sights on a married woman, though." Aly shook her head as Kikyou flushed slightly. "Kagome, I do need to talk to you, though. Thom's waiting for us as well."

Kagome nodded. "Sure." She looked at her friends. "If you guys leave, would you lock up, Miroku?" She didn't wait for the boy's agreement before Aly was dragging her down the hall. In no short amount of time, she was pulled into an old classroom that she could only assume was no longer in use. Thom Cooper, headmaster of the Mage University in the Copper Isles, was waiting for them there. Apart from him, George Cooper himself was there, and Kagome wasn't sure why she was stuck with not just one, but _three_ Coopers.

She supposed it was just the luck of the draw, although she never recalled picking straws. Then again, it could have been worse. She could have been stuck with her Aunt and Uncle. She'd rather have to watch her wallet than her mouth.

"Uwah! Hi there," she greeted the two men but her smile fell when Thom turned to her with a frown on his face. "Is there a problem?"

"Indeed," Thom agreed. "There is a very large problem. You have no Gift."

Kagome flushed and hung her head. "But that's not my fault, you know it isn't!" Kagome objected. "I can't just decide when it'll be there, it does that on its own!"

"That's why I wrote the letter to Master Numair," Thom said. "It explained your… delicate… situation. He's the best there is, Kagome, and all he hears is that you _have no Gift._" She murmured her excuse, but Thom hadn't heard her. "What was that?" he inquired, lips pursed.

"It got wet… the letter… got wet… I didn't know what it was supposed to say, so I didn't tell him anything. Besides, Neiji would get all up in arms if I said anything to anyone." Kagome explained, fiddling with the button on her apprentice robe.

George's brow furrowed. "Neiji?" he inquired.

"Neiji Crow," Aly explained, "one of Nawat's brethren. Did he show?" Kagome nodded. "Neiji was assigned to keep watch over Kagome when her existence became known. He's her protector."

_Except he doesn't do a very good job at it,_ Kagome thought bitterly but showed none of this in her face. "Oh, I know!" Kagome said cheerily, "Why don't we just assume I'm an awful selection for the mage program and ship me back to the Isles?"

"You know I can't do that," Thom said. "You need to remain in Tortall as per the agreement with your… family…"

Kagome's cheer died instantaneously. "Did anyone ever stop to think about what I wanted? Or is this just about everyone else in the family?" They didn't respond. She hadn't really expected them to. "I don't need Neiji as a protector. I can take care of myself just fine!"

George muttered, "She sounds like you, Aly."

Aly glared at her father before arguing logically, "If you can take care of yourself, why the hell do you look like you were tied up and dragged behind a race horse?" Aly's fingers grasped the dark blue scarf around Kagome's neck, revealing the yellowing fingerprint bruises on her neck.

"I fell, alright?" Kagome said, the lie quite easy to spit out. She'd had eight years of practice, though it was nothing she felt proud of. While she had no problem with lying in particular, it was this particular lie that never failed to make her cringe inside. No one believed the truth, so she had to lie.

No one ever believed the truth. Not about this.

"You don't need to lie to me, Kagome," George assured her. They never, ever had believed that truth. And now, they suddenly didn't accept the lie. It was confusing her too much. So she said nothing, instead opting to glare at each of them in fierce anger.

George stood from his seat and walked toward her, placing his large hands on her shoulders. "Look, Kagome… I know its not anywhere near what you want, but you just—need—to—stay. When things have been sorted out in the Isles, then you can go back. Until then, if you need anything, you can get word to me and I'll get word to Aly, faster and more reliably than any currier could do."

Being upset was an understatement. Kagome was annoyed and angry. "I don't know why my Aunt even wanted me here to begin with! She doesn't even like me, and I haven't seen her once since coming! You'd think if they wanted me here _so_ bad, if they fought _so_ hard to get me here, they'd at least show themselves! Now that I'm here, I'm just the stupid niece they can ignore!"

The three Coopers winced at her free tongue but said nothing about it. Instead, Aly said, "Kagome, they're quite busy—"

"Busy my ass! It isn't like they've got any shortage of time on their hands! They could at least pop in for a few seconds to ask just how I'm getting along. And even if they don't want to, they could let papa come visit because _he'd_ come if I called, _if he could get my messages_. Instead, they probably intercept any message I send to him." Kagome clenched her fists.

Thom said, "That's enough, Kagome. You're here and you need to make the best of it. Now we need to get back on track. Something needs to be said about your Gift; it would be easiest if we just told Master Numair that you are—"

"No!" Aly said immediately and Kagome couldn't help but agree with the woman. Kagome's agreement mostly came because Neiji would punish her if anyone else found out about Kagome's special Gift that didn't already know about it. George knew; he'd known for a long time. Being a spymaster probably helped a lot.

"No?" Thom inquired. "Master Numair has already sent word that Kagome will be removed from the University and shipped back to the Isles if she does not prove to have a Gift. If he were to know of her circumstances, he would be able to work with her."

"Thom, I agree with Aly," George said. "Kagome's two Gifts can be just as dangerous as the Wild Mage's; when the second one _is_ there, its enhanced by the first and all that much harder to control. But if someone managed to get their hands on her—may the Gods forbid it, so mote it be—and somehow manage to control _her_, thereby controlling her two Gifts, we would have a major crisis on our hands."

Aly added, "And there really isn't a point in telling Master Numair about the Gift from her father, because he taught her how to use it himself."

Kagome crossed her arms behind her head. "You guys ain't gonna ask _me_ how I feel on anything? I mean, it _is_ my life." She wasn't sure if she should feel offended that they seemed to be ignoring her (despite that they invited her) or if she should feel amused.

They looked at her again, as though surprised she was still there. "Oh, well," Aly began hesitantly.

"Hey, look, here's something. We can just tell Master Numair that I have a _preexisting condition which leads to my gift being repressed_."

"No, no," George shook his head. "If we say that, knowing him he'd want to find out what that condition is."

"Just say it's a birth defect, or something, and I'm all sensitive about it. What's the problem with that?"

"Kagome, the Gods don't make mistakes," Thom said.

Kagome snickered, "Well, that's true enough. I mean, _I_ was born, after all!"

"Conceited little scamp," Aly muttered, ruffling Kagome's hair. "So we won't tell Master Numair about your father's Gift, but we do need to say something to him. It will only lead to disaster if you're deported."

"And I doubt my Aunt and Uncle are going to bother telling _anyone_ why I'm here." Kagome agreed.

George and Thom, almost as though they were one person, both scratched their chins in unison. Thom said, "Alright, then… I'll think of something and go see Master Numair about you. Coming, father?"

George nodded. He patted Kagome's shoulder and kissed Aly's cheek. Teasingly, he said to his daughter, "Dear, quit sending spies into Tortall; I'm becoming vexed."

"Too old for a challenge, old man?" Aly teased right back.

George huffed and stalked to the door, although he wasn't really offended. "I'd say get out of Tortall and stay out, but you wouldn't listen to me, would you?" Aly just smiled and George left the room.

With those two gone, Aly turned to Kagome. "Now, I got your letter; you wanted materials for sewing, right?" Kagome felt her eyes widen and Aly laughed at her. "Kyprioth was reading over my shoulder, so he decided he would add a present too." Aly walked over to a chest by the door and opened it up. It was filled with reams of cloth and had a smaller chest filled with sewing needles, spools of thread, and various styles and colors of ribbons and lace. Next to the sewing supply box was a brown parchment wrapped package, tied in simple twine.

Kagome grabbed the present and tore it open, unable to contain the gasp that escaped her lips. "Oh, its _so_ beautiful!" she practically gushed.

Aly said, "Kyprioth said he stole a rainbow, a dozen moonbeams, and a hundred stars to create it."

Kagome grasped one end of it; the gift was a long strip of cloth that certainly did shine as though made of rainbows, moonshine, and stars. It was two feet wide and at Kagome's estimation, probably ten feet long. Knowing it was from Kyprioth told her that not only was it beautiful, but it would compliment her father's Gift as well, because all of Kyprioth's gifts usually did.

"Oh, its so, so beautiful…" Kagome ranted.

"Okay, can we focus on the trunk for a moment again?" Aly asked.

Kagome didn't want to look away from her newest gift but she forced herself to. Aly began to empty the trunk, handling the cloth carefully. When it was empty, she pointed out a small notch in the base of it.

"If you pull on this notch," she said, demonstrating, "this comes out as a false base. And here you go; the other items you asked for." She waved to the small trove of treasures secretly stashed away. "Just be careful who you tell about being able to fight. The more people know, the more trouble you'll attract and you do enough of that on your own."

Aly began to put things back in the trunk, habit causing her to put everything exactly as it had been before. "Thanks, Aly." Kagome said, hugging the older woman. "I know you did what you could to keep me in the Isles…"

"Yeah, well I only wish I could have done more. You were turning into a fine thief, if I do say so myself. And if my father tries to solicit you to join his ranks, you just tell him you're taken!" Aly joked. They both knew George wouldn't. Kagome worked for no one but herself and her own motives. She was taught by many people, but in the end, it was all her own whims that she followed.

But the thought brought a smile to both women's faces.

* * *

**I am alive! And I _so_ love Kick-Ass-Kagome right now. Sorry for the long wait, but its longer than the last chapter (I think)... **


	5. I've been robbed!

**Title: Magic Thief**

Author: Tsubasa Kya

_Disclaimer__: One more story to add to TK's Kingdom of Fanfiction! As if I didn't already have enough, right? Hahaha! I claim ownership of a _copy_ of some of the books, movies and/or manga in relation to Rumiko Takahashi's "Inuyasha" universe, and Tamora Pierce's "Tortall" universe and stay my hand at that. _

**Note: The story changed tones after I read Beka's Terrier and Bloodhound. I decided I like this tone a lot better for Kagome, fighting with proper speech. **

Chapter Five

472 H.E.

The visit with Aly had been a lot of fun. The mot took her into the great city of Corus and showed off her favorite card haunts from when she was a girl. Things had changed, Aly said, since her days visiting her twin in Corus. Places that had once been prosperous were now run-down, and places that had been nothing but a dung-heap had become hugely successful businesses.

With the university built, the city bustled with mages. Any bright mind would try to make a copper or two off the gullible. Money made people stupid; that was all there was to it. Shops had nice window displays of staves and wands and all numbers of items meant to aid a person in channeling their magic. None of it was something _Kagome_ felt the need to buy (if she really wanted it, she _could_ steal it…) but it was fun to look at.

While they walked she kept her eyes to her surroundings. Having grown up in the Copper Isles, she couldn't help but be extra cautious. Children went missing all the time in the Copper Isles, and few would help a mot as lost her child to the slave trade, especially the foreign mots. Kagome's mother was Yamani, so she learned fast to stick to her mother's side. Them raka who were out there, free or slaves, didn't take kindly to foreigners of any kind. They who were luarin only saw Kagome for her skin like a caramel. She was scum for being a halfsies, not all Yamani and not all raka. Her mother had become a successful seamstress, but she was called a whore for making with a native of the isles, and not married to boot. She'd raised Kagome to be better than those people, to accept all races for what they were: just another interesting color of the skin.

But growing up in the Copper Isles, Kagome had also learned even before her father found her that not paying attention to what was around, it was like asking for trouble. Not only were there slavers, there were murderers who got away with it, child molesters, pickpockets just looking to make a living, even the starved mumpers wouldn't think twice at robbing a gixie what couldn't defend herself for a scrap of food if they could get away with it. This city was no different.

After the merchant district, Aly took Kagome down into the Lower City, to the place that would be the most familiar and homelike to her. Living in the castle was all well and good, and she did love to wear the nice clothes like what nobles wore, but down in the slums where the Rogue lived with his lot trying to keep out of Provost's hands on a daily basis or face the consequences was where she was born and raised. These people were as good for her mother to make clothes for as were the occasional noble who asked of her services. These people were good enough for her father to be around, good enough for him to enjoy himself in their company. So that meant they were good enough for Kagome.

Looking around down here, she saw the people that truly made this city prosper; the ones who broke their backs in the fields and farms outside Corus so that the nobles and merchants who lived better could eat every day. Down here a mot or cove was lucky to have what they did, scraping by on long hours. Pickpockets eyed Kagome and Aly up from the shadows, probably thinking two well-dressed mots like they were mightn't be looking to keep their purses. A few gixies approached them with baskets loaded with late bloomed wildflowers or in one gixie's case, flowers so nice they were probably snatched from some noble's garden – not that Kagome was asking! Sometimes not knowing was better still.

Being that Kagome was rather loose with money (she could always pick some irritating noble's pocket up at the castle) and she was on one of her girlish streaks, she bought up a few flowers from each of the gixies that came forward and asked her to. She made a little crown of them and wore it throughout the city, while Aly grinned. Kagome didn't have a problem with stealing in general. She wouldn't steal from people who couldn't afford it, and she wouldn't steal something that might bring the Dogs on her. She was a very careful thief.

"You're being sillier than usual, Kagome. I was right to bring you down here; it's brought a smile to your face. A _real_ smile." Kagome gave the older woman a confused look. "I know you, and I know how I'd be too, if my ma and da tried what your Aunt and Uncle did."

"Well, it isn't fair." Kagome was pouting and she knew it, but she couldn't help it. "It's not like I can't take care of myself."

"As much as I'll love the Trickster, I could have done without him meddling, but Gods will be Gods, and they love meddling most." Aly told her. "Never minding that we'd just as soon not deal with any of it."

"But if he didn't meddle in _your_ life, you'd not have met Nawat."

"Though Nawat is determined to think otherwise, I know you are right there. Still, but for all the annoyances that the Trickster is, and he knows he is too, I'd not change a thing now. I said I could have done without, I didn't say I'd change it now." She grinned crookedly at Kagome, "I suppose it's all worth it when its over with."

"Yeah? So when does it get over with?" Kagome asked the woman who had long been her friend. "The meddling, I mean."

"For you? Probably never." Aly said with dry amusement. Kagome groaned as much at Aly's humor as at her own unfortunate truth.

They continued on into the city, playing cards at a tavern-and-inn called the Dancing Dove, to which Aly claimed had not only family history there ("My great-grandam lived just 'cross the street when it was first founded as the Rogue's headquarters,") but which had been built and repaired and rebuilt over a dozen times after bar fights or some poor looby thought to attack the rogue by burning the place down. They didn't stay long there; Aly was just hungry for a late lunch, and the majority of the card players were off earning their way so very few were even in the tavern.

Kagome had hoped to get a glimpse of the King of the Rogue, see what he was about, but Aly told her the likelihood of seeing that mammering scut was slim. The position of Rogue had changed hands enough since Aly's father George was on the throne. Seemingly in the last two years alone, there had been four Rogues.

"The one who serves as Rogue right now is Lez Feller. Lez's a coward when it comes to pretty much anything. He's got a group of rushers who does all his work for him, claiming that King Jonathon don't fight his own battles; instead anyone who challenges Lez gets a fist full of whoever he chooses to be his champion of the week." Aly explained.

"How do you know all this, when you don't hardly come into the country anymore?" Aly never ceased to amaze a young gixie like Kagome. When she first met Aly, the older woman had put stars in her eyes with all her stories of the war for the Copper Isles freedom. Aly was a mot who knew what she was about, knew her skills, took on older, wiser, stronger foes with daggers and quick wit. She'd been Gifted with the Sight, but that Gift wasn't something Aly depended on in the way most Gifted did.

"I make it my business to know these things. I have the right questions and I ask them." Aly ruffled Kagome's hair. "Come on, you scamp."

Market Square was their next stop. People rushed to and from their business more quickly to get things done before dark, as if staying out late would bring the spooks out, like creatures of the night. Whether they stayed out or not, them as made a living at night time would still come out. If these people were smart, they'd learn that the foists were out on daylight hours, same as them. Kagome caught sight of no less than five picked pockets.

They'd found a dingy pub called The Silver Flask that seemed to serve just shady characters – the rushers, the pickpockets, doxies and spintries – but Aly wanted to have dinner there so that was where they went. They arrived in time to see an arm wrestling tournament starting.

"What's this all about, Mistress Know's-All." Kagome asked Aly. Aly with her 'I'm Spymistress so I know all there is to know'... sheesh! But the older woman did make it easier to learn about the place, being that Kagome didn't particularly have city friends to explain anything.

"Don't get cocky with me; I'll box your ears." Aly warned her.

"I'll duck." Kagome watched a smile spread on her old friend's face. "You're old and slow, I'm young and quick."

"I'm not old! Not even a gray hair in sight!" Aly objected.

"Old enough to get yourself off topic real quick." Kagome grinned as a young serving wench brought over the food. "What's this arm fight for?"

Bristling slightly (ruffling Aly's feathers grew easier for Kagome every year), Aly said, "The Silver Flask used to be a nasty bar up to its ear hairs in brawls. The city Guardsmen and Guardswomen were forever trying to break up fights and stop the killing until finally one day a visit from a mysterious noble changed things."

"Lemme guess." Kagome said in disgust. "That noble was you. Meddlesome as a God."

"Actually, no. It was _not_ me, neither was it anyone who gave up their name. Even I still don't know who it was. I'd bet my da knows, but he'll not be telling any time soon." She pouted a little but then straightened. "They say he sat right where that girl over there is. The little one with scars clawed down her face and all up where you can see. He sat there to eat, and when the brawl started, he bellowed that anyone who wanted a fight would fight him rather than spill his stew. Then them that challenged him got thrown on their ass straight out the door. He came again the next night and told everyone right out, the champion of an arm wrestling tournament gets free meals for a week; he pays their food bill, so long as they eat here. Ever since then, the place holds a tournament on Wednesday."

"You'd think it wouldn't be too hard to find out who such a guy was." Kagome thought aloud. Her own curiosity was perked now but that might have been what Aly's intention was all along. It was a fine line to walk, having the skills of a member of the Rogue and yet not siding with anyone. Being friends and acquainted with Spymasters and Spymistresses and trying to keep entirely neutral was hard.

Of course Aly knew this was the route Kagome had chosen, being unwilling to serve anyone but herself and her own interests. She wouldn't serve her raka Queen any more than she'd serve King Jonathon of Conte, or even the Gods themselves. She was her own person, so she chose her path – not that the Gods listened! Always jabbering on about 'more important things'. Once in a while in talk, Aly had learned she could wheedle out of Kagome what she wanted, because they were friends. Kagome also would do things sometimes if it served her down the line to do it, like the time she left a Rat for the Dogs in Rajmuat after the cove decided to kill a gixie.

"Your food's getting cold, Kagome." Aly told her. Kagome returned to concentrating on her food. "Who the noble was is something I just don't know. None of my people can seem to keep on the trail of the one who picks up the bill for whoever wins for the week. Yes, our mystery noble pays for their feed. Think the owner here really wants to pay for even one great lummox's meat for a week?"

Kagome shook her head. Lower City folk could barely keep food on their own table, much less afford to feed someone else on top. "I wouldn't think an arm wrestling tournament would keep tosspots from brawling."

"When I first found out, I was flummoxed myself trying to figure it out. Then I heard rumors that the Provost's Guard is prepared to shut this place down if there's but one more brawl needing sorting. If that's true, people are being mighty careful not to get the place they have to win a free meal shut down." Aly eyed up the rushers currently in an arm lock. "So every Wednesday at the bell of eight, there's an arm wrestling tournament. One thing my da did say was more and more people have been avoiding the Dancing Dove and frequenting other establishments like this one here. This one in particular, especially. You pick a fight in here," she stopped as a man suddenly landed on the table next to theirs, two men starting to brawl. It was less than five minutes later, both men were tossed right out the door by other patrons to take their fight outside. "See?"

_Not too hard to guess why,_ Kagome thought.

Her eyes fell on that gixie sitting in the corner of the room. She barely looked like she could hold a pair of Yamani chopsticks and she was covered in scars. She was sitting at the table the noble had apparently sat at when he was at the tavern. Her eyes were a chilling ice blue. Aly had once said her great-grandam was said to have ghost eyes, cold as steel and freakish enough that everyone was afraid to look in them. Kagome wondered if this girl got the same reaction from everyone as Aly's great-grandam. Her hair was thick and matted with weeks or maybe years of unwash. Her skin was dark enough to belong to a raka, but that was because she was so dirty. At first, Kagome thought that girl was no older than eight, mayhap nine but the look in her eye said she was older than that. How much older, Kagome didn't really know.

Once they'd eaten dinner, Aly escorted Kagome back to the castle. Aly told her not to get into too much trouble but then added lowly, "And by trouble, I mean the bad kind." And then she winked and left.

Kagome's university masters would be frightfully angry at her, but after visiting with Aly she decided she had the urge to be _alone_ for a while so the next day she skipped classes. By 'alone' she meant she wanted to be away from the glares and stares that her fellow mages gave her, and the snickers over her failed lessons. One of these days her gift would be back and she'd be able to show them all a thing or two of what she knew. Master Hashmire, the man the university employed to keep attendance records and deal with truancy and the delinquent apprentices, would likely be on her tail by noon. That didn't mean she couldn't have fun before then though! Or escape him if he did catch up. The man was definitely good with his mage net spell, but his eyes weren't what they used to be and neither was his body. Miroku had told Kagome that Master Hashmire would as soon net a funny shaped log and drag it back if Miroku draped his apprentice robes on it.

Shifting through her wardrobe, Kagome wondered where exactly she felt like skipping off to. Mostly when she skipped of late, she'd just stay in her room or walk around the castle. If she was in her room when Master Hashmire came around looking for her, she'd just crawl into her wardrobe and wait him out. It didn't feel like a day to be crawling in a wardrobe though.

Pulling out a green gown of silk with short sleeves as was the current trend in Corus, she dressed and then dug in the chest from Aly. She had all manner of Copper Isles cloth now to make clothes, in bright and fantastic colors and textures. She could make herself any sort of garment now! She'd be making herself clothes in the style of the Copper Isles first, but not today. Today she'd do well in this gown. She wrapped a sash Aly had given her around her waist. Aly knew well she liked things that made noise and this sash had copper and silver coins attached to layers that made up the cloth. Taking out the gift from her beloved god, she rubbed the fine cloth against her cheek. The gift was a long strip of cloth that certainly did shine as though made of rainbows, moonshine, and stars. It was two feet wide and ten feet long. With special stones spelled by powerful mages to be attracted to each other attached to ties, it would clasp around her armpits and then each elbow. If she desired, she could clasp it again around her wrists, but she preferred to just let it follow each elbow like a very pretty long train. This special cloth gave her bracelets and anklets and the coins on her waist an even brighter kind of shine.

Petting the fabric as she walked barefooted into the hallway, she felt even prettier than the Queen of Tortall. Thayet of course had nothing on a girl favored by the Trickster (even if she was quite pretty)! Ha. How could she? With no pretty gifts, no skin like caramel candy, no music with each step. So Kagome was vain, but what girl in her right mind _wasn't_? Kagome would very much like to meet that modest girl and put her back in her right mind.

Half skipping her way along, Kagome made her way noisily toward the nearest known exit route. It took her through a hidden hall, down a secret stair, and out behind a few sheds placed conveniently close to the castle so as to look like they were right against it when truly they were hiding the hidden exit. Kagome wasn't stupid enough to not use secret passages. They were built there for a reason, weren't they? And the more of them that she was able to find, the less she had to use the halls everyone _else_ was frequenting. Kagome could be a ghost here in the castle, sneaking in, spooking people, and slipping out again unseen.

The sheds were used to keep tools for the palace garden which she walked into and marveled at. But of course it would be full of pretty flowers, and only the best for a queen and a king, while some city flower seller had weeds and if she was bold enough to risk immortals or any manner of other thing that might attack a lonesome girl, wildflowers from outside the city (or snatched from some hapless noble's garden).

"Uwah…" Kagome murmured. She'd never taken this exit out before. She only knew of it because Miroku said it was the fastest exit out of the castle, and it was one that Master Hashmire apparently (according to Miroku) hadn't found out about. Kagome moved through the garden walk, bending to smell a particular flower here and there.

She ended up by a large fountain, spraying misty water into the air with the help of magic charms that pumped water continuously upward from its near full basin. The water would then fall down to the basin again from three tiers and return to the cycle. She dipped her hand in, trailing four fingers along the surface and creating more ripples. It was cool on the bright autumn day, a nice change against her warm skin.

"The fountain is powered by old immortal magics," a voice behind her said, startling her almost right into the basin. She caught herself and turned around, looking at the sneaky intruder who'd walked up on her so silent.

"What'd ye want, ya ducknob?" She was so startled, she could hardly speak Common straight. His lips stretched in a grin when he heard her talk. For an older man, he had a really nice smile, not demeaning or mocking like she was beneath him or something like scummer. He had thin lips, but not thin enough that they'd seem like they were in a constant scowl.

"Been a long time since I have heard anyone talk like that! Who taught you common?" He asked. His silver hair was the same color as moonshine, pulled back at the nape of his neck and tied off with a leather thong. It looked very long. Gold eyes didn't seem like they were natural, but then again, Sir Knight Alanna had purple eyes and how natural was that? God gifted, and god touched, clearly this man had to be—whosoever he was. He was so tall too, and not even Sesshoumaru had a head near this giant of a man's height.

Sesshoumaru! That's where she recognized this man. He had to be Sesshoumaru's father. She was half sure she saw him once before to be certain, but then like a stupid gixie she was too busy getting her person attacked by a crow and then fawning at Sir Knight Alanna… or was it the other way around? She wasn't sure; that whole day was very foggy at that point, as exhausted as she'd been.

"My da taught me. Elsewise I'd as not soon be sayin' a word, beggin' yer Lordship's pardon." She told him. "I'd speak Kyprian, like as not, or Yamani, them being what my ma taught to me." She realized her speech was still quite poor and concentrated on proper talk again. Normally she didn't have a problem these days sticking to talking proper Common, but since she had her father's gift, it meant she had a thing for languages. It all sounded the same to her, as if her ears were universal, translating anything she heard into her native tongue – only her tongue didn't work the same way. Her father was _old school_ so the words he taught her, the words that stuck, well, they might just be old as the dirt. It was only after she met Aly that she learned to speak 'proper', and after she joined the university that it started to truly stick.

"I must say it is refreshing for a change. How did you come to be here in this garden?" He didn't sound accusing as he said it, or like he was about to scrape her up from the stone walk and drag her kicking and screaming to Master Hashmire. If he had sounded like that, doubtless she'd have been gone already. He sounded more curious than anything, as if people didn't generally get into this beautiful garden.

Kagome was already quick to form a lie. She didn't generally let loose freely with her knowledge of secret corridors, but after a second look at him – the name Lord Toga seemed to come to mind – she changed her mind. "There's a hidden passageway from the mage apprentice wing right to a door just small enough for a mot like me to get out. That door's behind them, um, _those_ sheds back there." She'd done just fine, or mostly fine speaking the night before! But then again, she normally didn't have a handsome noble staring at her with eyes of warm honey that seemed to capture her eyes and keep them stuck on him.

When she pointed to the sheds she'd left in the distance of the garden, she saw his eyes barely flickered in that direction. "Do the mages no longer hold class on a Thursday?" he inquired. It wasn't any more than an amused inquiry, but it still made her uncomfortable. She didn't want to admit she was skipping to this man, for whatever silly reason her mind wouldn't tell her about. He seemed bright enough to realize she wasn't going to answer that. She shuffled her feet, the rings on her ankles making a greeting of their own to who she was sure was Lord Toga. "This garden is tended by immortal servants. It was my gift to Queen Thayet and her king, Jonathon, this garden and this fountain."

"You say that funny." Kagome pointed out before she could wonder if she ought not use care over how she spoke to him. "I'm told King Jonathon is ruler here, so his name ought be first, right? And why did you give them a garden. I'm sure they already had a bunch. You'd done better if you put one in Lower City so that _real_ people could appreciate it, too."

"That is an idea," he grinned at her again and she felt herself blushing. He almost made it sound like he even valued what she thought. What a new notion! A noble, valuing a street rat's opinions! "But for one such as myself to create an alliance with Queen Thayet and her king,"

"You did it again," she interrupted him. "Made a king sound more like a pet."

"Are all men not simply pets for their wives? Someone to fetch them pretty jewels and tell them what they like to hear?"

Kagome bristled. "Not all mots like hearin' what some mammering scut _thinks_ they want to hear!" He'd given her the okay to talk how she would so far through not scolding her over what free speech she made, so she wasn't going to stop now. She felt as if that was a personal slight to herself. She was one to like gifts, sure, but not if the one she was sweet for was doing it just to get in her haystack or on her good side! If she was mad, damn well they better fix it, but not by trying to buy her. That would only make things worse for them.

"My apologies, Mistress Higurashi. I did not mean to offend you." Her surprise at him knowing her name must have shown on her face because he smiled kindly and explained, "I never forget a name or face."

"Oh…" Feeling rather ridiculous, she turned to look at the fountain. Each tier was delicately crafted to look like flowers opened to the sun. It was amazing how the stone cutters managed to make it look so lifelike. The water glistened in the autumn light like little diamond drops going from one tier to another to the basin and then back to sprinkle up in the air. It was beautiful, sure, but she was of the feeling that kings and queens already had so much; so why was everyone always giving them things. It seemed to Kagome the richer and more powerful a person got, the more gifts they got. Then they forgot those left in the dirt who had given them their power.

"Will you walk with an old man?"

She turned to him. Would he not cease to startle her? He was like Aly in that regard. "You can't be that old!"

"I have a daughter of thirty-two winters with a wife of ninety." Kagome winced. Such a handsome man had a daughter that old? And a wife who was ninety? What a wrinkled mess of bones she must be! But wait, didn't someone mention something possibly key to this strangeness in age?

Oh! Miroku mentioned talk of Sesshoumaru being an immortal! "Are you really an Immortal?"

He merely grinned and took her hand, folding it around his big muscled forearm. Okay, it was official. She was in love with this well-dressed, well-spoken noble. If there was one thing she learned she was weak for, it was a big and powerful figure. Lord Toga had it. Tall with broad shoulders, but still on the leaner side – and yet he didn't look awkward like an ostrich, or like Neiji Crow, all arms and legs and knobby bones.

And of course, the fact that he claimed to have a thirty-two year old daughter didn't phase her. Not if he was as handsome as he was! Married? So what! She could have her own private fantasies! And here she was, walking with him through a garden all sweet-like, with her heart racing and her mind stirring up dust and mental trouble. He was certainly more graceful than Sesshoumaru, especially considering Sesshoumaru was dumb enough to let a street rat get the best of him – _and_ break his arm!

"How did you come to be in Tortall?" she asked him. "Did you come when the Kudarung returned to the Isles?"

"My return was heralded in the year 447. To be truthful, the Divine Realms were of little interest to myself and my people, but I was the lone one whom they chose to pull through."

"So you don't, or you didn't, have your family here even?" Kagome asked. Didn't that just sound like her, feeling closer to someone forced apart from loved ones.

"I did not, until the year 450."

"So you're a noble, but you're an Immortal. How? What made you come through? Who are 'they'? Did whoever-they-are open a portal for your family to come through then? And you don't look a day over twenty, might add, but you're trying to tell me you got a daughter what's half-way to ancient? How old are you? And Sesshoumaru, is he related to you? If he is, he certainly don't take after you – you're nice, and Sessy's a cracknob what need's some sense knocked in 'im." She rambled, and then ducked her head a bit feeling embarrassed.

"You have many questions." He seemed pleased for some reason that she would ask. Lord Toga was also not upset that she spoke so loosely of his own son. "Sesshoumaru is my first son. He was born in 453 during a blizzard; I fear he has been frozen ever since that hard winter."

"That's a load of hogswallow!" She blushed deeper still. "Again, beggin' yer lordship's pardon." She couldn't keep her tongue shielded around this man, could she? Or even half sensible, it seemed.

"You need no pardon from me," he promised her, "I much appreciate a woman who is not afraid to speak up. My son does well here, but does not seem to desire any form of association with those who would be his companions. I must thank _you_ for breaking my son's shell of ice."

_Or his bones…_ She amended, _'Cause that's all I did…_ "He's not got friends a'cos he don't want them, sir. Like as not, he'll end up alone. I seen pages flirtin' in the halls," okay, apparently her tongue said to hell with it, it didn't want to talk proper, "with them noble ladies, or with mage apprentice gixies. What ye _never_ see's Sesshoumaru bein' one'a them pages. Only he takes pleasure in makin' ya feel a'feared of 'im. That's no way t' treat som'un."

"No, I think you are quite right about that."

"None'a the other pages'll try prankin' Sesshoumaru. They's all too a'feared of 'im to try it. I thought 'bout pullin' somethin' jest a'cos I could. Then Master Hashmire caught me wit' his net spell. Ye don't pluck a rat 'round Master Hashmire." She locked her jaw shut as he stopped walking suddenly to look down at her. Bright red, she was. Then he started grinning, and not long after, he was chuckling. Letting out a little giggle of her own, she added, "What? Well it's true. See Master Hashmire, an' ye best hobble off fast, or _he'll_ be hobblin' _yez._"

"Then I suppose you had best not get caught, Mistress Higurashi," Lord Toga told her. He placed a warm, large hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently before continuing off down the walk without her. He was a man with no regard for saying goodbye, it seemed, because he was gone before she could react, and she realized her mind was bustling with more and more questions she wanted to ask… meanwhile it seemed more like _nothing_ had been said. Or that she had said a lot and he just added his share to lead the conversation…

But where did he lead it? What was the point to it all? And damn it all, when could she meet him again? She'd enjoyed talking to him, but she had to wonder of all the things he said. Or rather, the _little_ he might have said with meaning.

Sesshoumaru was born in 453, so that made him nineteen years old. He was old for a page, then, since Miroku said the pages started as early as ten if their birthday fell before September first of the year. If it fell after September first, then they would wait another full year before they came, making them eleven by their first Midwinter as a page. Sesshoumaru had said already that he'd sat alone at his page mess hall table "for three years". So then he was in his fourth year of page training? Kagome couldn't imagine a person actually _wanting_ to be Sesshoumaru's Knight-master. He'd probably be one of the unattached squires, or if he _did_ get someone, he'd probably be placed with a desk Knight. Wouldn't that just serve the Immortal right?

But how sad for Lord Toga! Stuck in the mortal realms with no family, no friends... He probably made friends quickly. Three years seemed like a long time to Kagome. Being separated from his wife must have been painful for him. At least she had a scamp for a father who was constantly using her as a wager, so that knowledge eased the pain of the loss. He seemed like the sort who garnered respect not by fear, but by being a kind, yet subtly powerful man. His son hadn't learned _that_ trick yet. Kagome would shave her head the day that happened!

But Toga hadn't actually opposed Kagome when she suggested she might prank his son, did he? No! He'd said she shouldn't get caught. She blatantly ignored the fact that the words might have been geared toward getting caught by Master Hashmire where she oughtn't be.

Well then, time to set to work. Lord Toga clearly didn't mind if she messed around with his son's head, maybe had a few laughs. She got a roll of parchment and folded it up until it made a sizeable bag. Then she visited the page's stables. No one was around but for a hostler who was napping up in the loft.

She found a good sized lump of scummer and scooped it in the bag. _She_ wasn't afraid to be filthy, although she did hate the smell. Still, once it resided in her makeshift parchment baggie, she took out a kerchief and wiped her hand of the scummer. She'd wash up later.

That evening when she was sitting in her window with Kikyou and Miroku settled on her bed, she waited with eyes on Sesshoumaru's shutters. They were closed, indicating he wasn't in. Once he got in, she'd given him a delightful gift.

Miroku said at last, "Kagome, why can't you use your gift?"

Kagome pulled herself into the window. She'd known that question was long overdue; Kikyou was a born and raised Yamani though so she didn't feel it was her place to ask such personal questions. Miroku for all he was at least part Yamani was raised with circus folk for his childhood only getting a break when Lord Raoul took him in. He knew subjects were sensitive, and he _was_ capable of tact, but it seemed when a gixie became his friend, he felt entitled to know. It wasn't like the fact she couldn't use her gift was a huge secret though.

Everyone knew by now.

"I just can't, okay?" she wanted to discourage them from asking again, so she scowled like she was offended and upset that the topic had been broached and stormed to her privy. She wasn't truly offended by the question, but she couldn't answer it. She didn't want to lie to these two who so far had stuck to her side like real friends. The only friends she'd ever had were all so much older than her – Aly, Nawat, Queen Dovasary (they were at least on speaking terms although that wasn't entirely 'friends' material) – and she typically didn't have time to just sit and relax with any of them. She'd helped a little with Aly's triplets, Ochobai, Ulasu, and Junim but they were half her age so there was always that age gap for her. There was always that feeling that she just didn't quite belong there.

It was different with Miroku and Kikyou. Here were two people she liked, that she wanted to trust, but she couldn't. She _especially_ couldn't with Neiji Crow watching over her like she knew he was. Aly would likely drop the subject of how Kagome got covered in bruises because this wasn't the first time it had ever happened. George Cooper on the other hand was a different story. His green-hazel eyes had lit up with a fire and an insatiable curiosity. He'd probably use his resources to spy on her, but Neiji was too careful. George would never learn, and even if he did, he'd never believe it.

Neiji wasn't even the beginning of why she just couldn't talk about her gifts. She had two of them; Headmaster Thom had told her as much. He'd said the only explanation he could come up with why she couldn't do magic all the time would be she had two gifts, and that somehow sometimes one gift would 'bury' or else 'enhance' the other Gift. Essentially, her gift from her da would always be there, but the one from her mother wasn't always.

Thom wanted to tell Headmaster Numair about Kagome's gift problems. After all, Numair trained a _wildmage_ to use her magics, certainly a man of such credentials could figure out how a gixie might end up with two gifts. This wasn't like the gift of both healing and destruction in one person, like Sir Knight Alanna had. Thom had said this was _different_. Kagome didn't know how it was; it all felt the same to her, but she trusted Thom to know what he was talking about.

Aunt and Uncle of course didn't like her, so they _insisted_ Kagome leave the Copper Isles where people were there who understood that her gift was there sometimes and wasn't other times, because apparently she had two gifts. She'd left behind a handsome cove who gave her pretty gifts just because he wanted to, and liked to. He hadn't been the brightest or wittiest of his lot, but he had a muscular body, a sweet face, and for all he was a Puppy for the Dogs, he was still willing to chase after her even when he saw her lighten a nobleman's load during his days as a Runner. Things had been getting to be _real_ between her and Hojou. Then after an exciting evening that ended a scant hour before he had to muster in at his kennel, her Aunt and Uncle pop in for a very unwelcome visit. If Hojou hadn't been gone already, her poor, simple lover might've popped something important in his head. She certainly popped out a few choice curses when they told her their 'decision'. That very day she was on a ship to Tortall, no chance to say goodbye.

And why was that? Because 'people might want to use her'. The world was full of people like that! People who manipulate, hell, the _Gods_ were the prime example of that! And 'she was not allowed to tell people'. Well, they'd find out sooner or later!

Forcing herself to take a few calming breaths and stop being so angry, she reflected for a moment on that. Auntie was most likely still angry at Kagome's father for being the crook that he was, but he couldn't help the way he was any more than Auntie could stop herself from turning into a royal bitch once a month. At least she veiled her face so that few had to suffer the sight!

But Auntie knew something… That something most likely had to do with Kagome's gifts. That _was_ the reason she was sent away, right? Because people would want to use her and her gifts. Then the question was… what was really so special about her gifts? There were tons of mages more powerful than her; tons of them who could use their gifts without fail. Sure, her gift from her mother was stronger when it was there due to her father's gift, but it wasn't anywhere near Thom's power. It wasn't special at all.

Was it really _two_ gifts? Thom was only making a mage's educated guess when he said that. He could have been wrong. Maybe she only had one gift, the one from her father. But that wouldn't make sense either. The gift from her da was capable of turning her invisible, hiding her scent and body and silencing the noises she made. It was capable of summoning her god-gifted bracelet weapons to her from the target she threw it at. It wasn't really capable of blowing a door off the hinges with a fire blast – was it?

If her gift was so unusual, why didn't her da say anything? Maybe he didn't look hard enough to realize it? Maybe he didn't want to see a flaw in her? Maybe Aunt and Uncle hid _that_ fact just like they hid _Kagome's_ existence for the first eight years of her life.

Maybe… maybe she was looking at it all wrong? The Gift split two ways was not so unusual. Miroku could destroy and heal. These were a part of the same Gift, though. But to have two separate gifts, Thom also once said this should be impossible. A single body couldn't house two entirely separate gifts. He explained that everyone had a core; an essence that made up who they were, and if someone had the Gift, their Gift would wrap around their core, their essence and it was this Gift that shielded them from the Gifts of others. Thom once mentioned that his mother benefited from having the Gift, because it didn't let her be found out to be a girl by magical vision. That Gift shielded her.

The idea of having _two_ gifts would mean two cores, which would mean she'd have to be two people. Except she wasn't. She was just a single person, no twin or second head (she was sure she'd have noticed a second head by now).

So if a single body didn't have two separate essences, they couldn't have two Gifts. Unless her da's Gift was mayhap wrapped around her ma's Gift and…

It was useless brooding. Whether she had a single very odd Gift or two separate ones, it was not for her to know. Not yet, at least.

She gathered up her dung bag from the bathroom and took the candle with her. Kikyou and Miroku were still there. Miroku opened his mouth to apologize no doubt. Kagome beat him to the punch simply by leaving. She wouldn't hear an apology, because he owed her none. He did deserve to know, but she couldn't tell him. Not now.

Making her way through the halls, she went down a floor. She failed to see if Sesshoumaru was in his room from her own window, so she watched and waited around a corner. At long last he came. His eyes were shadowed, his shoulders stooped just slightly. He tried to scratch his arm beneath his cast but then (since there was no one around to see) he winced as he must have hit a sensitive spot and bit his lower lip. His short hair stuck to his head. He might have broken his arm, but he was not allowed to stop training because of that. If her calculations were right, he ought to be coming back from the stables, sweaty, covered in horse hair, and more irritable than his usual irritable self.

Once he was in his room, he shut the door behind him. She seized her chance and hurried to the door. Setting the makeshift parchment bag down, she used the candle to light it on fire, then took out her soiled kerchief and stuck it to the door with a tack. After rapping a hasty sequence on the door, she dashed back around her corner, poking her head out to watch.

Sesshoumaru opened his door to see who was there. He saw her gift, burning merrily on the stone. She had to bite back a whistle at the angry growled swears he let out, and then a groan as he dumped his water crock over it. Seriously? That was no fun! He tore the soiled kerchief off his door, then used the ash shovel from his fireplace tools to scoop up the bag which he then walked purposefully four doors down and dropped it there. It landed with a schlop noise that Kagome heard all the way down the hall. She wondered if Sesshoumaru thought _that_ person had pulled the trick.

Miroku and Kikyou weren't in her room when she returned, which she supposed was just as well. The whole prank had been a flop! She sighed, gathering her things up and making her way to the baths.

She was just returning, opening the door to her room when she was suddenly _drenched_ from a rig placed over her door. She shrieked in outrage, drawing the attention of mages out of their rooms. Some jaws dropped, some snickered. She was covered in urine. A small kerchief that had once been white was drenched in urine and tacked to the bucket. Miroku and Kikyou were there to look at her in concern and ask what happened as she took out a belt knife and cut down the rig. She yanked the kerchief away from the bucket. Her eyes swept the hall up and down. There! She saw a flash of silver hair ducking back.

Hiking her skirts, she stormed after for three long stretches of hall. He lost her, but she knew where he slept! That bastard wouldn't get away with this! Never mind the fact that she started it by putting flaming dung before his door. Somehow he'd known it was her. Maybe it was her green kerchief covered in scummer.

But now she had to take another bath!

Kikyou was kind enough to find her in the baths carrying a clean set of clothes for Kagome. "I had the servants clean the mess, Kagome." She said softly as Kagome tried to scrub her hair. She could feel the urine on her hair, her face, her arms, even though she'd been scrubbing with the soap. It wasn't so much that urine was still there, but more of a mental projection of it being there. "Kagome, will you please tell me what is going on? First you are beat up, now this?"

Kikyou could see the injuries that Kagome's gown normally hid. Kagome didn't answer. She ducked her head under the water to wash off the soap and then crawled out. "Look, Kikyou," Kagome said roughly, taking the clothes from the girl. "I told you. I fell. Ask Shippou; he helped me get a replacement chair because I broke mine."

"Oh really?" brown eyes burned irritably before her face became an unreadable Yamani mask. "Chairs don't talk. Chairs don't leave thumb prints on your neck."

When Kikyou left Kagome there, Kagome felt worse than ever for being such a horrible friend. No one believed her when she told the truth about Neiji Crow. He was such a great crow, one of Nawat's brethren. No one wanted to see his real face. No one was permitted to see it, save for Kagome. Kikyou wouldn't believe it either.

But she couldn't help but feel that this time, the 'I fell' lie was hurting her more than Neiji would if she tried to tell the truth. Still, the idea of the pain he'd inflict was enough to make her keep her silence. She pulled on the clothes Kikyou brought her and bundled the soiled ones in a towel. They'd head straight to her hamper.

When she returned, the mess was cleaned up. She double checked the hall and her door and her room for traps before anything else could be sprung on her and then locked her door.

Feeling miserable, she curled up on her bed, wishing there were someone she could just _tell_. Things were so much easier when everyone knew everything there was to know about her.

The days passed, but Kikyou did not return. She started to hang back as if to say, "This is what happens when you lie to your friends." Miroku tried to find out what was going on between the two girls. For as much that Kikyou could be a warm-hearted, friendly Yamani, she certainly had pulled on that mask of stone fast, and kept it on. Miroku tried not to have to choose between his friends. He tried to keep up with both. In the end, though, his questions of what happened between her and Kikyou made Kagome push him away. In her mind, it was none of his business, and no doubt when he was off canoodling with Kikyou, she'd already told him anyway.

Kagome sat across from Sesshoumaru in the Page's mess hall every day, daring him to start something without saying anything vocally. His eyes were like molten gold, burning with acceptance to the challenge.

Her next trick on him a few days after that was done in his horse pen after spying on him cleaning in his horse's stable for three hours on a Friday night. He cleaned and oiled his tack with meticulous care to it. A rider's tack was the only thing between a man and his horse, so the extra care Sesshoumaru gave it was clearly something he thought out. He mucked out the pen, gave his horse a thorough brushing (she witnessed the stoic page whispering to his horse), and fixed a broken board on his pen's gate. All of this he had to do one handed because his broken arm was mostly useless in its sling.

When he'd left the stables, she struck. She returned all the muck to his pen that he had painstakingly taken out. She rubbed sand and dirt into his tack. All the while, the dark slate colored mare looked at Kagome with those big black eyes. She didn't make a sound when Kagome came in and started pulling her stunt. Now that Kagome was almost done, however, the mare moved forward and butted her head against Kagome's shoulder.

Kagome turned to the mare and smiled. "This's just a present fer yer master," Kagome told her softly and then tacked a bright blue kerchief on the wall of the pen. She could just leave without sticking something there as a signature, but he'd probably find out she did it anyway as he did for the scummer bag. She figured she might as well leave a signature. Even though it wasn't a green kerchief covered in scummer, he _had_ to be bright enough to figure it out.

She headed back to clean up before supper. That evening, Page Fushiro got three weeks worth of his free time working the stables for his poor care of his tack and poor care of his horse. At breakfast, he clutched that bright blue kerchief like it was a neck he wanted to pop. He said nothing, but his gears were ticking she could see.

Kagome shot him a sweet smile and said, "Beautiful weather out there. You should go out and enjoy a walk in the sun while it lasts." It made her giggle inside; he wouldn't be enjoying much of anything for a few weeks.

Four days later she was beginning to wonder if he'd ever prank her back, or if he threw in the towel. She'd just come back from a late-night practice with her bracelet blades and slowly shifted around in the dark, taking her clothes off and throwing them in the hamper for the servants to collect. They were covered in mud again. It was too hot to bother with sleeping clothes so she just crawled into bed. The bed felt weird… sticky. She blamed the sweat on her body for a few seconds before she felt like something was crawling on her with its tiny legs. She instantly brushed at it, expecting nothing of it.

A few seconds after that she realized there was something there. She _shrieked_ and hurried to get out of the bed. In spite of the fact that Kikyou and Kagome were at odds, Kikyou was the first to respond to her terrified scream, pounding on her locked door.

"Kagome? Kagome, what's wrong?" Kagome was too busy wiping at her skin, trying to get rid of the feel of creepy crawlies. Her door lock clicked. Miroku had opened it using his little 'trick'. They came in with a lantern and saw her naked, flipping out across the room shaking her hair and slapping her skin acting a total fool. Miroku's eyes lingered before Kikyou slapped him and rushed to Kagome's bed, pulling the cover off the bed.

Seeing that blanket come close, Kagome shrieked, "Stay away from me with that!"

Kikyou was startled, but then she looked at the blanket. In the dim light from the lantern Miroku held, they could see a few determined bugs clinging. A glance back at the bed showed the place where she had lain was swarming with bugs.

"Miroku! Stop staring and fetch a servant!" Kikyou ordered him, dropping the blanket and going into the wardrobe. Bugs were all over all the clothes too. Kikyou wasn't going to try to bring one of those to Kagome; she wouldn't stand for it. Kikyou went to her own wardrobe, bringing a robe back and wrapping it around Kagome. "Come. We'll get you cleaned up. You can stay in my room tonight." She pursed her lips and tugged a white kerchief off the door to Kagome's privy. Kikyou would make any bet that Kagome didn't want to go in there, and she wasn't a betting sort either.

The next day, Kagome spoke to Boris, the head servant in charge of the Apprentice Mage's wing about switching rooms. She couldn't even look in there without feeling terrified. At first, Boris confused her for Kikyou because she was in a kimono and it made her look even more like Kikyou than ever. However, after explaining the problem with the bugs, Boris agreed to move her down the hall. She got the special treatment because she was a foreign exchange student.

She'd miss her view going right into Sesshoumaru's bedroom, but she still could look down on that courtyard with the birds. The window across from her room over the courtyard belonged to a Knight on the second floor, and on the first floor was a girl page who other pages were forever pranking and hazing. Down the row, she still could see Sesshoumaru's window, but not directly inside. Kagome realized that the door that Sesshoumaru left the scummer bag must have been that female page's door, because it was four windows down from Sesshoumaru's.

This made her more angry at him.

Her trunk was delivered, as well as the lockbox she'd kept on her mantle. The servants tried to bring her clothes, but she pushed them away. "Give 'em to the Lower City mots! I don't want 'em!" she said.

Sesshoumaru had clearly broken the lock, but there was not a single bug in there, or even a smudge. For that, she was grateful. She hadn't mucked up his _horse_ and so this must have been his one restraint. If her reams of cloth from the Copper Isles had been contaminated, she'd never, ever have gotten over it. She took everything out of the trunk and checked the hidden space beneath the faux bottom. Here were the things she'd asked for from Aly, safe and sound. Daggers of all sizes, ones with flat hilts the better to hide them or ones with round hilts. Needles made of wood and needles made of steel, of a size that no one would mistake them for sewing tools. Oils for polishing and maintaining these weapons. A thin wire made of the metal from stormwing feathers after it had been melted down. Rope, and leather hobbles.

There was one thing missing from the bottom of her trunk, however, something that ought to be there but just wasn't. It proved Sesshoumaru had found the bottom to be fake, and he'd gotten in. He'd taken a trophy. Out of all the things he could pick to take, he chose to take Kagome's lucky fork! She'd requested that her very special fork be brought from the university. She'd been so rushed to get packed up that she figured she must have knocked it behind her desk and she'd been right.

What was so special about this fork? It was made of silver and it had two round red garnets, two round peridots, and two round blue topaz cut stones surrounding a beautiful round white diamond on the handle of it. What made this even more unique (she didn't hide it just because it was worth a fortune) was the fact that it was a fork… but it was also a spoon. It was a _fpoon_. Or it was… a spork! Yes, a spork. She liked that better than fpoon.

She'd broken into a noble's home and taken it when this noble had cheated her mother. She took more than just the spork; two solid gold goblets, a silver candle holder, six colorful wax candles, emerald drop earrings, a pearl necklace… She might have been seven, but she took all the pretties she could fit in her loot bag. The Lady and Lord of the house had been out so she struck. Even when the lord's dogs came, they didn't make a fuss. They were supposed to be ruthless, attacking thieves, but instead she just took their jewel encrusted collars, pet them, and then snuck out.

Her mother had found Kagome's bag of loot and spanked her good and solid, but she then gave Kagome the spork and told her to never let anyone catch her with it. The rest of the things Kagome stole disappeared never to be seen again, but a brighter array of cloth arrived days later and Kagome's mother went to work on clothes yet again.

When Kagome was eight, her mother had been injured grievously in a riot just months after Dovasary took her throne. The wounds festered for a month, and Kagome's mother prayed to heal but never went to see a healer. She said that money was needed to put food in Kagome's belly. So instead, Kagome's mother rotted in pain until at last she passed into the hands of the Black God. Kagome was terrified when she went to wake her mother, only to find bugs feasting away at flesh. Ever since then, she'd been terrified of bugs.

The spork was all she had left to remember her mother by. And Sesshoumaru had taken that as a trophy.

He would pay, and pay well for this.

**END CHAPTER.**


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